A Predicted Match
by lumoscrimsom
Summary: The boys talk to a seer during a careers fair and more than one of her predications may come true…
1. Chapter 1

**Part One**

"_Move your body like a hairy troll, learnin' to rock and roll,"_

Those in the vicinity of Sirius Black ignored the soft singing coming from the back of the Transfiguration classroom.

"_Spin around like a crazy elf, dancin' by himself_,"

Remus, sat beside Sirius, twitched, his quill still scratching across his parchment as McGonagall droned on about the theory of transfiguring large animals.

"_Boogie down like a unicorn, no stoppin' till the break of dawn, put your hands up in the air, like an ogre who just don't care."_

Peter, on the other side of James on Sirius' left, trampled down a giggle.

"_Oh! Can you dance the hippogriff, na na na na na na na na na, watchin' old Minerva dance, na na na na na na na na na, watch her shake her sexy arse—"_

"SIRIUS BLACK."

The whole class flinched, but nowhere near as hard as the back row did.

"What was the verdict, then?" Remus asked when James and Sirius emerged from the classroom looking traumatised.

"Gotta clean the bottom of the desks without magic." Sirius grumbled.

"Wasn't even me." James muttered.

"It usually is." Peter shrugged reasonably.

"_Without magic._"

"At least it's not the toilets." Remus rationalised.

"We don't talk about that." Peter shuddered, rubbing his arms gingerly at the memory, "I still sweat to this day that that _thing_ was moving."

"Why do you look like you've seen Slughorn naked?" Remus asked the other two with a frown as they made their way down to the Great Hall, where there were supposed to be witches and wizards with small businesses to talk to them in case they didn't get the grades the wanted in their N.E.W.T.s. James grimaced and Sirius barked a loud laugh, making a group of passing first years jump and speed up.

"Prongsy here said my lyrics were distasteful—"

"Disgusting." James corrected with a pain shake of the head.

"And McGonagoogly got all offended that he thought her arse was disgusting, so he said—"

"I think your arse is perfectly sexy." James filled in flatly.

"He asked her to shake it for him and see!" Sirius howled, grabbing Remus and pulling him down the hall in a clumsy waltz and declaring his love for McGonagall in between humming a disjointed version of the muggle wedding march.

"No one needs to see you flirting with Lupin, Black." came a snide drawl. Sirius stopped suddenly, leaving Remus to stumble into James, clutching onto his bag for dear life.

"Shut up, Snivellus, you're just jealous that you don't get to ravage such a spine specimen as Remus every night like _I_ do." Sirius smirked, his hand inching towards his wand, but Remus grasped James and Sirius' arms and hauled them through into the Great Hall to avoid a duel there and then.

"Mooooony," Sirius whined as Remus dragged them to the side, "I was just looking forward to vanishing all of that greasy hair."

"Would've be a good favour." Peter nodded.

"Real selfless, like." James agreed. Remus rolled his eyes.

"You two have already got detention tonight," he reminded them, "And it's the twins' birthday. Unless you two want to miss out on the fun, I suggest you save your 'favour' until tomorrow."

"Good plan, Moony." James said seriously, "Any better ideas? I think we've already done the no hair thing."

Remus didn't answer, but his mouth twisted into a crooked grin that only appeared when he had a plan that was sure to make James and Sirius writhe in pleasure – most of the population of Hogwarts were under the impression that Remus Lupin was the perfect prefect, but the Marauders knew that that was just a disguise to hide behind; Remus was actually the mastermind behind many of their legendary pranks and had the most hilarious ways to make Slytherins blush and curse. At the sight of this grin now, Sirius nudged James and they exchanged an excited glance and agreed to wait.

Meanwhile, some representative from Human Resources in the Ministry was trying to talk over the bored hum of chatter emitting from the sixth years and quickly gave up, sitting in a corner with a huff and leaving them to the stalls placed around the edges of the Great Hall, in which the House tables had been vanished to create more room to walk around in. The Marauders trudged around the stalls, asking the nervous witches and wizards about their fairly boring business, occasionally scaring them with questions like, 'haven't you ever wanted to own a bordello?' and 'is that edible?'.

They reached the last stall after a mere ten minutes, adorned with flashing badges advertising 'Gill's Gilled Geese – Great for Catching Fish!' and such other things, and stopped. Remus glanced at Sirius' wide grin and sighed, wondering reluctantly what trouble he was going to get them into now – really, the man had no subtlety – where Remus would never get them caught, Sirius would earn a detention with every breath he took.

"Hello, ma'am, what is it you do?" Sirius asked with those old Black manners.

"I own a matchmaking business." The witch answered, looking a little disarmed by Sirius' dazzling smile, "I'm a seer, so my matches always work."

"Could we have a go?" Sirius asked politely. The witch nodded and Sirius pushed James forward. "The one with the unfortunate hair would like a reading."

"Padfoot, noooo! Moony help me!" James wailed, trying to get away, "If I find out that my Lily flower will never succumb to my manly charms, I will spontaneously combust! Do you want that, man? _Do you want that_?"

"Calm down, these things are never right." Remus said calmly, "They're just a money snatching scheme."

"I assure you, _sir_," the witch snapped, offended, "I am always right."

"Prove it." Remus smirked, grabbing James' hand and shoving it in the witch's direction. She narrowed her eyes at him as James sobbed dramatically, but took the offered hand and spent a long moment peering at his palm.

"Well?" Sirius asked with a grin when she looked up. The witch smiled at James.

"You will find love with her whom you most desire."

James whooped and pumped his fist in the air, "I knew it!" he cried, "I knew we were destined!" And with that, he disappeared in flurry of bad hair, calling out "Evans! I have proof that you're destined to have my devilishly good looking, ginger babies!"

"He's going to end up in the hospital wing and I'm going to spend detention alone." Sirius sighed heavily, gazing after James as he hurried after Lily out of the Great Hall. He turned to the witch seer again and grabbed Remus' hand for her to see.

"Hey! I don't believe in this rubbish!" Remus protested, yanking his hand back, but the woman had already gotten a good luck at his hand and sat back, smug. Remus glared at Sirius, smacking him upside the head.

"Do you want to know you're romantic fate?" the witch asked mysteriously.

"Yes!" Sirius chirped.

"No." Remus rumbled.

"Then I shall tell you half." She smiled infuriatingly, "You will fall in love with a close friend."

"Right," Remus nodded sarcastically, "Let's go, Pads."

"Noooo!" Sirius whined, "Make her tell the rest! Do you know who it is?" he added to the seer. Remus sighed and grabbed Sirius' arm, pulling him out of the Hall, Peter following him with a leaflet on 'Seducing Women out of Your League'.

"I wanted to know mine, too." Sirius scowled on their way up to Gryffindor Tower.

"You've obviously forgotten that we have a private party to plan for the Prewett twins in the dormitory and we have to do it now since you and Prongs have landed yourself in detention after dinner."

Sirius pouted, but nodded and followed obediently.

"Oi, oi, oi, oi…" James repeated before giggling for a moment."

"What, Prongsy?" Sirius slurred, leaning forward to address the question directly to his best friend's nose. It was past midnight and the Prewett twins' sixteenth birthday party was in full swing in the sixth year boy's dormitory. Gideon and Fabian Prewett were surrounded by sweet, empty bottles and socks – a dormitory tradition of gift giving that hadn't been broken yet – Frank Longbottom was passed out on the footboard of Peter's bed, said Wormtail was humming the rude version of Celestina Warbeck's most recent Christmas hit, James was trying to repeatedly and unsuccessfully get the room's attention, Sirius was slurring and talking to people's extremities and Remus was swaying in time with Peter's humming, gulping at his seventh bottle of firewhiskey.

"Oi," James said again.

"You say that one more time, I stick this bottle up your fucking arse." Remus growled, the threat only slightly dampened by a loud hiccup on the end.

"Only 'cause you wanna shove something else up there!" James chortled merrily.

"I'd rather shag Merlin's underwear drawer." Remus answered with another hiccup.

"Now, now, ladies," Gideon grinned too widely, "What did you wanna say, James, old boy?"

"We should play Never Have I Never ever Have Ever Never Ever…or something like that." James stumbled, his pleased grin not faltering once.

"Never Have I Ever." Peter corrected in a random moment of sobriety.

"Yeah but with things we _have_ done, not _haven't_." James added seriously, "Otherwise it's boring."

"I'm in." Fabian announced. His twin followed suit.

"If I have to." Peter shrugged.

"Ditto." Remus scowled.

"I'll play, too!" James crowed, forgetting that it had been his idea.

"Me too!" Sirius chimed, "How about you, Frank?"

Deathly silence emanated from Peter's bed.

"Frank says he doesn't like the game." Sirius said sadly.

"Who goes first?" Fabian asked, glancing around the circle and appearing to make himself dizzy by doing so, as he had to clutch his head and blink slowly a few times.

"Someone who has had enough experiences to get us going." James grinned, turning to Sirius, "Padfoot, you old dog, you first."

Sirius bowed at having been implied as a slut and tapped a finger on his chin thoughtfully whilst taking a sip of firewhiskey, sloshing most of it down his shirt, "Hmm…okay! Got one – never have I ever gotten a handjob."

There was an appreciate murmur throughout the circle and all the boys, except Frank – who they felt had a reasonable excuse of being unconscious – drank from their bottles.

"Who?" Gideon asked Peter in surprise, who looked indignant at the surprise

"That's not the rules." Remus said flatly.

"Who cares?" Sirius grinned, "Who?"

"Zoe Flatwood." Peter answered, managing to look dignified.

"Zoe, Zoe, Zoe…" James murmured thoughtfully – or as thoughtful as one could be whilst absolutely sloshed on Roserta's finest – before lifting an enlightened finger, "Aha! That fifth year girl! Blonde, little bit chubby?"

"I like something to hang on to." Peter huffed. James, Sirius and Fabian wolf whistled and made cat calls at the comment and Remus shifted uncomfortably, knowing what was coming.

"Reeeemuuuusssss!" James sang. He leaned forward and leered, "What about you, who?"

"I'm a gentleman." Remus frowned, "I don't kiss and tell."

"Pah!" Sirius exclaimed, "Gentleman my left arse cheek! That act may work on the rest of the school, but it doesn't work on us! If only your worshippers could see you smoking a joint, or smacking a Slytherin in the chops, then you would be looked upon as we are – stupid and wastes of anyone's time."

They all stared for a moment, shocked by the monologue uninterrupted by any slurs, until James shook himself and grinned again.

"Come on Moony!"

Remus sighed and took another mouthful of drink before saying, "Jillian."

"Who…? Oh my…Merlin's beard…Lily's friend? Are you on good terms still? Did you put in a good word for me for her to tell Lily? Could you do it again? Why didn't you tell me? Ohmygod—"

"I knew you'd get like this." Remus sighed again.

"I'll stop." James frowned, pouting, "It could've been worse though."

"How?"

"You could've said Lily."

"Well…"

"You little—!"

"Joking! Joking!"

"Right." Sirius said loudly, clapping his hands together, "James, next!"

"Right," James repeated, nodding, "Never have I ever…been sucked off!"

"An imaginative step up from the last one." Remus said shrewdly, but took a drink along with Sirius, James and Fabian. Peter and Gideon kept their bottle in their laps sadly.

"Who?" Sirius smirked at Remus.

"Why am I always asked? Why not you?"

"Because everyone knows I'm a whore. You're the good one."

"You just said I'm not a gentleman."

"You're not, but you are the good one – you take notes in class and everything!"

"Point taken." Remus shrugged and drank again before saying, "Robin Harris."

Silence overtook the room as they all thought hard, but failed to match a face to the name. Suddenly, Gideon gasped and stared at Remus.

"Robin's not a girl…" he stated to the circle, "Robin's that tall, dark and handsome guy in seventh year."

A moment of shock passed.

"Moony," James asked slowly, "Are you a poof—I mean, are you gay?"

"I'm no nancy." Remus chuckled, "I was horny and he was in the Prefect bathroom at the same time. Guys can suck cock just as well as girls, you know. You just gotta know which ones."

"After all these years, you still surprise me with your candy." Sirius murmured.

"Don't you mean candidness?" Remus snorted. Sirius ignored him and looked significantly at Peter, Remus' revelation forgotten easily, who chewed his lip.

"Um…never have I ever forgotten to do an essay until the minute before class."

They all groaned as they drank.

"Peter, that was shit." Fabian scolded.

"Well I haven't done half the things you lot have." Peter mumbled, turning red. They groaned again and drank in silence for a moment before James declared the game boring because they knew who would drink for which statements, even if Remus was the sudden dark horse.

"What shall we play now?" Sirius asked the room at large and possibly the purple stain on the ceiling above James' bed. Frank lifted his head briefly and garbled, "Truth or dare," before collapsing back on his face.

"The last time we played that, I ended up stuck on the Astronomy Tower with a talking flobberworm." Remus sighed, "Naked."

"Which was marvellous." James stated earnestly, "Right then – I dare Padfoot to stand naked in the common room and sing the latest sorting hat song. If someone comes down, you have to keep going."

"Done." Sirius grinned, already peeling off his clothes and running out and down the stairs. They all followed and leaned over the railings, laughing raucously as Sirius warbled a version of the song that didn't make much sense but did its job, as two curious and most likely irritated third year girls appeared on the opposite staircase. They froze and stared in horror – Sirius continued to sing, making up entire verses about chocolate and clouds now, until they screamed and ran back up to the dorm.

The boys roared with laughter as a merry Sirius jogged up behind them.

"They were pretty traumatised, mate." James said sympathetically as Sirius pulled his boxer shorts on and flopped down in the middle of the circle.

"Obviously. They were shocked at my level of prowess."

"Prowess at looking like you have girl parts down there." Remus sniggered. Sirius flicked a chocolate frog wrapper at him and stuck out his tongue. Remus smirked back.

"Next dare!" Gideon announced, ignoring the fact that his brother had slumped onto his bed, producing loud snores, after watching Sirius traumatise young girls.

"What happened to truths?" Peter asked, who hadn't bothered getting up for Sirius' dare and what currently lying with his back to the circle and his face pressed to the footboard of James' bed. Sirius started to turn his hair multi-coloured when James shouted the next dare.

"Moony and Padfoot should kiss!"

Remus blinked at James and Sirius ceased in magically dying Peter's hair.

"What?" Remus asked dumbly. Sirius seemed to shake himself and was already getting to his hands and knees, crawling towards Remus. Sirius leaned forward the tiniest amount and brushed his closed mouth against Remus' with the lightest touch known to man.

"There." Sirius smirked triumphantly as Remus scowled and wiped a hand across his mouth. James tsked and rose to his haunches, shoving Sirius forwards as he protested, "That wasn't a kiss! Do it properly!"

Sirius landed heavily on Remus, forcing them both to the floor in their surprise. Remus' bottle of firewhiskey rolled away, empty and forgotten as Sirius' lips smashed against his, teeth clashing painfully, noses bumping awkwardly.

"You two are useless." Gideon chuckled. Sirius saw Remus narrow his eyes.

"I'm not bloody useless." The werewolf growled, "Come on, pretty boy, show 'em what you can do."

Remus yanked Sirius' head back down and this time, their lips met more softly – without teeth, but still roughly. Sirius felt strange, with Moony's mouth moving in time with his own; not bad strange, like that time when Wormtail's shrinking potion had been spilled on his trousers, but a different kind of strange that only intensified when Remus opened his mouth and he felt his tongue, hot and wet, forcing his own mouth open and pushing its way inside, stroking his own rhythmically.

_Where the hell has he learned to kiss like this_? Sirius thought, almost painfully aware that his bare chest was pressed against Remus' soft jumper, sending shots of electricity downwards, towards an area that was only clothed in tight boxers that would soon be revealing how Remus' kiss was affecting him—

Remus suddenly released Sirius and fell back on the floor with a _thump_, unconscious. Sirius stared down at him, confusion and something warm and bubbly gather in his chest that was quickly evaporated by James trying to say something and instead giving up to get up and go to bed. Sirius glanced around, glad to see that the others were either asleep where they were sat, or had gone to bed while he had been distracted by Remus' tongue and cotton jumper. He rose unsteadily to his feet and climbed under the covers on his bed, determinedly keeping his hands away from his uncomfortable erection and hoping that he wouldn't remember anything in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two**

Sirius grumbled incoherently as light that was much too bright to be considered polite filtered through the curtains. His head was pounding as though a pixie was doing a tap dance on his brain and his stomach was threatening to erupt if he so much as moved, but he rolled onto his face anyway and pulled his pillow over his head, which only encouraged a rolling bout of nausea. He groaned loudly, the sound vibrating in his own head.

"Padfoot, if you don't shut up I'll throw up on you." Remus snapped from the next bed. Sirius lifted his head a little off the mattress to give him a smart arse reply that was bound to get him some nasty hexing later, but his mouth snapped shut quickly as the other boy's voice stirred certain memories from the night before.

"Oh god…" Sirius grumbled, smashing his face back into the bed. Someone on the other side of the dorm decided that chucking a shoe at him would shut him up, but only resulted in him turning an unattractive shade of green when he sat up and demanded, "WHO THREW THAT?", so he scrambled to his feet and dashed to the bathroom to empty his gut into the bath (the nearest thing that wasn't the floor) and forget momentarily about Remus.

"BLACK."

Three hours after the breaking of dawn, Sirius flinched from where he sat on his bed, combing his hair before a hand held mirror he had stolen from his cousin Narcissa when the other boys complained years ago about the amount of time for which hogged the bathroom.

"Dead." Frank stated frankly as he pulled on what he believed to be Alice's favourite jumper.

"What have you done to Moony now?" James asked with as much amusement as one who had just been sick in his sock drawer could muster. Sirius shrugged non committedly, privately panicking that Remus had remembered last night after all and somehow known how Sirius had privately reacted and was about to come back from the bathroom to murder him with a toothbrush. None of the others remembered much about the party and none but Sirius himself remembered James daring Remus and him to kiss – so, naturally, he said nothing of The Unknown and Horrifyingly Embarrassing Incident and went about his morning routine like normal, as though he hadn't gotten an erection over one of his best friends.

At that point, Remus stormed back into the dormitory in his boxers and a white wife beater – something that he always wore to bed and strolled around the dormitory in, so why couldn't Sirius keep his eyes on his _face_? – brandishing a toothbrush and making a beeline to Sirius' bed with homicidal intent gleaming in his eyes.

"Yes, Moony?" Sirius asked innocently, continuing to comb his hair casually.

"Why in god's name, would you throw up in the_ bath_?" Remus demanded, jabbing Sirius in the chest with the toothbrush and leaving a small blob of paste there.

"I thought it would have been funny," Sirius answered sarcastically, lowering his mirror and comb to cock an eyebrow at Remus, "It was either that, or being violently ill all over the floor. The loo was too far away."

"Use fucking _scourgify_ next time."

"I didn't have my wand." Sirius shrugged, "You do it now, or I could."

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed slowly and deliberately, before turning away to chuck his toothbrush into the bathroom, probably smearing toothpaste everywhere, before pulling on some crumpled jeans and stomping out of the dormitory, muttering that he would shower in the prefect's bathroom instead.

"Should know better than to come between Lupin and his morning shower by now, Black." Gideon said wisely. Fabian nodded sympathetically before he left with his brother. Sirius pushed himself to his feet to go clean the bath himself and wash the toothpaste from his nipple, where he was starting to experience a peculiar cooling sensation.

"Could have just scourgifyed it." he grumbled.

"How am I supposed to play in this state?" James moaned into his toast miserably. The four Marauders had successfully made it down to breakfast without anyone else emptying their stomachs and were attempting to fill them up again with food. James and Peter were prodding at toast, still a slight shade of green, Sirius had managed half a plate of scrambled eggs, devoid of his usual ravenous appetite as he tried and failed to focus on the fact that Remus was sitting beside him, who was wolfing down – for want of a better word – sausages and bacon, never one to miss out on a meal, cheerful and spritely after his mandatory hot shower and full English breakfast.

"I could charm your broom for you." Remus suggested, taking a generous gulp of pumpkin juice. Sirius raised his eyebrows, not bothering to remind him that such things were illegal and brooms were difficult to manipulate, as the prefect already knew that.

"No amount of cheating can stop me from feeling like I'll throw up my own intestines." James lamented gloomily, "You sure we haven't got any Evanesco Hangover potion?"

"Ran out last month." Sirius said sympathetically, "Blame Wormtail – it's his job to restock."

James glowered sideways at Peter, who didn't notice the death glare, being too engrossed with frowning at his toast and jam. Sirius grimaced; it looked far too much like he was actively trying to stop himself from bringing up chunks.

"Right." James said decidedly, "I'm going down to the pitch. Wish me luck, men."

The others nodded and watched him swaying precariously as he left the Great Hall, others from the Gryffindor team hurrying to catch up to him and clapping him on the back. Sirius watched with pity as his best friend swallowed painfully and solidered on, out of sight.

"Poor git." he said with a grin. Peter balked suddenly and jumped up, hands over his mouth, and hurried from the Hall. Sirius raised his brows, glancing down the table where Gideon, Fabian and Frank were sitting with Alice, all three looking just as worse for wear.

"Guess it's only us who can handle our alcohol." he said proudly. Remus eyed him, pausing in devouring one of his cooked tomatoes.

"No, I'm the only one." Remus corrected, "You defaced the bath, remember?"

"Yeah, well, I get it out of my system early, then I'm mostly fine."

Remus just snorted, turning back to his breakfast.

"Why don't you get hangovers?"

"Benefits of being a werewolf." Remus grinned toothily, pushing his empty plate away and leaning his elbows on the table. Sirius watched his plate disappear and tried to think of something else to say to distract himself from the strange churning sensation in his stomach when he looked at the back of Remus' head.

"Prongs should've just gone to Pomfrey to get some hangover stuff."

"Couldn't have." Remus shrugged, smiling and lifting two fingers in a small salute at Evans and her friends as they passed, being the only Marauder on good terms with the girl. Sirius frowned, about to ask why but didn't have to when the answer was given anyway, "He'll get detention for drinking and he has to come to Hogsmead tomorrow. Sweetie's in the village tomorrow."

"Ah." Sirius smiled – meeting Sweetie was always a good thing. It meant that they could continue business; the Marauders ran a school wide business called Wolf Wares selling this and that, things that students – and sometimes teachers – had trouble purchasing in the village, all in aid for a pair of two way mirrors James had spotted during a sneaky visit down Knockturn Alley that he knew would be invaluable during late night wanderings and pranks. Sweetie was Remus' 'contact' and stocked them up for a minimal fee; it was all very dignified and well put together – except for Sweetie, of course, who had a crush the size of a dragon's left ball on Remus Lupin.

"Ah indeed." Remus smiled, standing up and stretching. Sirius forced himself to _not look_ at his friend's tanned navel in front of his face and got to his feet too.

"Let's go," Sirius grunted, nodding his head towards the doors, "I need a smoke before the match."

They headed outside, wrapping their cloaks around themselves against the still-cool April air and made their way down to the greenhouses, their usual haunt for a cigarette or two. Remus pulled a pack from inside his robes and offered one to Sirius, lighting his own and then leaning his face close to light Sirius' with his cigarette. Sirius averted his eyes downwards, feeling a flush creeping across his face and planned to blame it on the cold wind, but there was no need to. Remus had leant back against the greenhouse wall beside him and was gazing up at the clouds, blowing out a steady stream of smoke.

Sirius took a drag of his own cigarette, telling himself that he _wasn't_ noticing the way the other boy's cheeks hollowed with every intake of smoke. The silence dragged on and on, Remus refusing to meet his eyes, until Sirius suspected that perhaps he remembered more of the party than he was letting on, for a silence that usually would have been companionable to be so uncomfortable between them.

"Remus, I—" Sirius started hesitantly, but Remus dropped his cigarette on the ground and stubbed it out with his shoe, saying that they should get going. Sirius looked at his smile, disconcerted, and nodded, stubbing his own cigarette out and following him towards the pitch.

"Looks like the Prewetts have got their books open again." Sirius chuckled, pointing towards the forest, where a number of students were making bets on the match. "I don't know why they're bothering, Gryffindor are playing _Hufflepuff_."

"Who cares? Easy money." Remus smirked, giving the twins one of his two fingered salutes as they waved at the two of them as they passed.

The match, in Sirius' opinion, was hilarious. James had dipped and dived around the pitch unsteadily, having to pause in mid-air more than once to clutch at his stomach. Gryffindor had won, obviously, the seeker having caught the snitch quickly to prevent their best chaser from falling off his broom, but that meant they hadn't scored sufficient points to put them ahead of Slytherin for the Cup. The rest of Gryffindor – not to mention McGonagall – was not as amused. The Head of House could be heard later swearing that 'if that idiot Potter costs us the House Cup, I will personally make sure he fails the end of year exams.'

"It wasn't that bad, mate." Sirius assured James as they sat by the fire in the common room that evening as the rest of Gryffindor celebrated the victory, happy to have an excuse for a party, lead or no lead.

"Really?" James asked hopefully.

"No." Peter grimaced, nursing a butterbeer as he watched a group of fifth year girls across the common room.

"You were awful." Remus agreed, "Especially when you tried to pass the quaffle to Andy Spinnet. Hit one of our own beaters right in the ear."

"I'm never drinking again." James moaned.

"_Drinking_?"

The four boys cringed at the voice and turned, slowly, as one. Lily Evans stood with her hands on her hips, red hair falling over her shoulders, green eyes blazing. She looked magnificent as always – and always did when angry, Sirius observed with amusement and bewilderment – which must have been killing James.

"Ah, my Lily flower." James smiled weakly, a hand automatically reaching up to mess his hair up even more.

"Shut up, Potter." Evans snapped, "So that dreadful performance was because you were _drunk_?"

"No, he was hungover." Sirius corrected helpfully. James jabbed him in the ribs, making him yelp in a rather unmanly fashion. Evans' eyes narrowed and, seemingly unable to find anything bitchy enough to say, turned and flounced away to join her cronies. James made a sound similar to a sob.

"Don't worry, Prongs." Remus sighed, "There are plenty of other girls here who appreciate your bigheadedness and inability to play Quidditch under the threat of vomit."

And so James stood resolutely and marched off with his jaw set in determination and approached the nearest attractive girl to immediately ask her to Hogsmead the next day. Sirius glanced at Remus, who was watching James and looking thoroughly entertained, and did exactly the same thing. Nothing like an easy fifth year girl to assure a man of his manly manliness.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Moony. Wanna hear a song?"

Remus lifted an eyebrow at Sirius and sighed, "You're going to sing it whether I say no or not, aren't you?

"Correct." James chuckled. Remus glanced around to check that there weren't too many third years around on the route down to Hogsmead who could have their innocence shattered by Sirius' songs.

"_Jack and Jill went up the hill, so Jack could lick her Candy, but Jack got a shock and a mouth full of cock, 'cause Jill's real name is Randy_."

Remus wiped a hand over his face, smothering a laugh and shook his head, "Another classic English nursery rhyme ruined, thank you, Padfoot. With each one, you taint my childhood a little more. Why are you still looking up muggle rhymes?"

"To traumatise my Moony, of course." Sirius said, throwing his arm around Remus' shoulder, "I love them, they're so easy to turn dirty. Although there is one I don't get."

"Really, Pads? Children's rhymes confuse you?" Remus asked as they entered the village.

"S'not hard," James grinned, rapping his knuckles on Sirius' head, who ducked away, hitting at his friend and making Remus stumble sideways into Peter.

"It's that roses one. Hmm…" Sirius hummed, trying to remember how it went, "Roses are red, violets are blue."

"Blue?" asked Peter in confusion. Even James' brow furrowed. Remus laughed and shrugged.

"It's just a silly rhyme. No one really cares all that much. Other things to worry about, really."

"Roses are red, that much is true, but violets are purple, not fucking blue." Sirius sang, looking pleased with himself, "Oh, stop here. I'm meeting that girl here, err, Viola, I think her name was."

"Viola? Ought to sing her that charming song, then." Remus said dryly as they stopped near The Three Broomsticks.

"That girl you picked up last night?" James asked with a grin.

"Yup. The one with the…" Sirius trailed off and held his hands out in front of his chest. James guffawed appreciatively.

"I'm meeting Sian here, too.

"That one with the red hair?" Remus asked, raising a pointed eyebrow.

"But she has brown eyes, Moony," Sirius reminded him seriously, "So she's definitely _not_ a substitute for Evans. Plus, she _nice_."

"Fuck off." James muttered, just as a short, red-haired girl popped up behind him and reached up to tap him on the shoulder. The other three stared at her; she looked nothing like Lily apart from the hair, which was too short anyway, but that was obviously the only reason James had approached her. Her face was…well, _squashed_ was the only way to put it politely and she was short than Peter, making her look like a second year – a look that her choice of clothes did not help. It was…disturbing to see James tell them goodbye and walk off, hand in hand, with a fifth year disguised as a twelve year old.

"D'you think we should tell him?" Peter asked with some concern as they stared after him.

"Nah." Sirius said dismissively, waving a hand, "He'll work it out when he goes for a feel and gets a handful of thin air. Then he'll come back crying to us that he's copped off with a kid."

"She is a fifth year, right?" Remus asked uncertainly, still staring after them.

"Yeah. She's friends with my—ah, here she is!"

Remus and Peter turned to see a girl who definitely did _not_ look like a twelve year old sashaying towards them in a tight cotton jumper with a low enough cut that she _must_ be absolutely freezing. Remus eyed her critically – the girl was rather typical of Sirius. Big bust, long legs, barely-there clothes. Well, his typical if she had had sleek black hair to her hips or masses of wavy blonde hair, but this one…this one reminded Remus of _himself_. Minus the breasts and short skirt, of course, and he liked to believe that he possessed a manly quality –

she had brown eyes like him (minus the animal-like amber glow at certain angles), and a sprinkling of freckles across her nose, also like him.

But what _really_ freaked him out was the hair. Remus himself had brown hair with a slight unruly curl that hung below his ear, a fringe that he often had to blow out of his eyes, and a red tint in the sunlight. This girl also had brown hair with a slight unruly curl and a fringe. The only difference was that hers was longer, but the way it was tied back made it look like _his_. She made his hair look mussed and sexy instead of just a tad uncontrollable (and only a tad, since James' hair took the place of completely uncontrollable). There was no tint evident and Remus wasn't keen to wait until the sun came out to check.

It was…disconcerting.

Remus glanced at Sirius to see if he had noticed that his date might as well have been his twin, but Sirius was already chortling under his breath and said in a low voice, "Here we are, lads. Drool as you will, but she's _mine_. Well, for today anyway, and tonight if I'm lucky."

"You think she'll let you…you know." Peter asked with awe.

"Shag her? 'Course." Sirius scoffed, "Hasn't been a girl yet who's resisted the Sirius Black charm."

"Quit bragging." Remus snapped. He cleared his throat when Sirius gave him a strange frown and corrected himself, "It's not fair on Peter."

Sirius considered him for an uncomfortable moment in which Remus shifted uneasily until his twin reached them and smiled in a sultry manner that deeply unsettled Remus. Sirius leaned in to kiss the clone and he snapped, "Take your newest piece of skirt out of here, already."

Sirius glared and the clone looked offended, but he dragged her away – in the direction of Madam Puddifoot's no doubt – leaving Peter and Remus, who was still reeling from meeting his female counterpart.

"Is it just me or did she look like…?" Peter asked slowly.

"Me?" Remus finished, relieved that he wasn't going mad and that someone else had spotted the similarities, "It's not just you. Didn't look like Pads had noticed, did it? Right, I said I'd meet Lily in Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop and then we're going to Tombs and Scrolls. You coming with?"

"Sure." Peter nodded.

Two hours later, Sirius and James joined Remus and Peter in The Three Broomsticks – better than the Hogshead for dodgy business, as less people expected dodgy deals being made in Rosmerta's bright and friendly pub, although they did take the darkest corner.

"Have fun with your dates?" Remus asked, sipping from his butterbeer.

"I don't want to talk about it." James mumbled, taking a long draught from his glass, slamming it down and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Peter blinked and turned to Sirius, who was practically glowing with pleasure and self-satisfaction.

"It was okay." He shrugged. James and Peter rolled their eyes and Remus mouthed 'three…two…one…' before Sirius broke excitedly, "It was _brilliant_. She wanted to see the Shrieking Shack, so we went down and, well, I don't kiss and tell."

"Yes you do." Peter said.

"Yeah, I do," Sirius smirked, "She gave me a handjob."

"Slut." Remus muttered. Sirius gave him another one of those strange frowns again.

"What did you two get up to?" James asked Remus and Peter, "Any sly handjobs behind trees?"

"Not quite." Remus smiled, finished his drink and leaning back, "We did hang around with Lily, though."

"WHAT?" James demanded, jumping to his feet and attracting the attention of the whole pub.

"Sit down, Prongs." Remus said calmly.

"Did you talk about me?" James asked excitedly, obeying and sitting back down next to Sirius, who was still staring at Remus.

"Of course. Nothing flattering, though."

"Bastard."

Remus simply showed him his middle finger and smiled sweetly. Sirius finally stopped staring at him and glanced over his shoulder before returning his eyes to Remus with a smirky grin.

"Sweetie's here."

Remus closed his eyes briefly, summoning the energy to deal with the flirtatious whirlwind who just happened to a thing for him. It was mandatory to appease Sweetie, or their deal would go out the window. Remus sighed heavily and opened his eyes, tearing them away from Sirius and James' laughing expressions to stand and greet Sweetie who instantly ran into him, embracing him tightly, before pulling back to beam up at him.

Sweetie was a man. Well, an eighteen year old man, but still a man. He was shorter than Remus and had a slim frame, blonde shaggy hair and a pretty face. He was loud and bold and repeatedly made advances on Remus, who had long since gotten used to being propositioned by a gay man, having been dealing with Sweetie (a pseudonym – his real name was Alan), for nigh on years now and was the reason he was so versatile when it came to choosing who would be good enough to get him off when he needed it.

"I swear to Merlin," Sweetie smiled up at him seductively, pulling Remus flush against his chest and hips, "You get hotter every time we meet."

"Why don't you take a seat?" Remus asked politely, pulling away gently and gesturing to the chair beside him. Sweetie sat down and greeted the others, who were obviously having great trouble keeping straight faces.

"Would you like a drink?" James asked. Sweetie shook his head.

"I'm fine. I haven't got long. Here's your stuff."

He pulled a miniature case that fit in his palm from his pocket and slid it across the table. James glanced around before pocketing it.

"Everything's there?" Sirius asked quietly.

"All of it." Sweetie nodded, lowering his voice and leaning forwards, "Six crates of firewhiskey, six crates of muggle beer, one hundred and sixty packs of cigarettes and the specialty, of course – thirty packets of the good stuff."

"Great." James grinned, "What do we owe you?"

"Well…" Sweetie turned his blue eyes on Remus and shuffled his chair closer. Remus jumped and cleared his throat as he felt a hand slide up his thigh, "Since Remus here is old enough at last, I'll forgo all money for a date."

Remus dissolved into a fit of coughs whilst the others dissolved into silent laughter. Sweetie only had eyes for Remus and didn't notice.

"I…what?" Remus rasped once he had recovered. The hand travelled further upwards.

"You heard me. I want a date. With you."

"He'd be _glad_ to!" Sirius grinned. Remus' eyes snapped to him.

"He never stops talking about you." James added, winking at Remus, who scowled, still looking at Sirius, who was determinedly looking anywhere but back at him. Remus made a snap decision out of anger he didn't realise he was feeling.

"Right," he smiled, at the clinging man, "How does tonight sound?"

"Perfect." Sweetie grinned and leant forward to murmur in his ear, "I'm looking _forward_ to it." and moved his hand up to squeeze his crotch under the table on the word 'forward'. Remus jumped again, but felt himself growing hard despite everything. He turned and looked at the older boy and smiled wider, thinking that he hadn't had any fun in a while and since he had agreed against his better judgement, Sweetie might make a good night, making him sigh and fan himself with his hand dramatically.

"Gods, when he looks at me like that…" Sweetie muttered before shaking himself and getting to his feet, "So where am I meeting you?"

"We'll come and get you and bring you up to the castle." James offered. Remus raised an eyebrow whilst Sirius choked on a sip of butterbeer. Sweetie's smile grew.

"Sounds good. I'll meet you outside the pub at nine. See you later, Remus."

With a wink and a grin, Sweetie left. James whooped and clapped Remus on the back.

"Nice! For _free_! That's a load of galleons back into the pot."

Sirius muttered something under his breath and Remus frowned.

"What was that?" he asked, voice low. Sirius met his eyes and scowled.

"I said you're whoring yourself out."

Even though he had called Sirius a slut only minutes ago, Remus could have hit him, he could have screamed at him. Instead, he got to his feet and left, silently, _knowing_ that he should have laughed it off, but he didn't _know _why he reacted the way he did – he only knew that it had something to do with that _girl _who looked so disturbingly like himself. Sirius stared after him until he disappeared. When the door had swung closed behind Remus, he turned to stare down at the table.

"What was that?" James asked softly, which surprised Sirius, who had expected shouting and screaming from his best friend.

"It's true." Sirius said stubbornly, "He's gonna shag that guy for something in return."

James leaned forwards suddenly and grasped the front of Sirius' jacket, "No," he said in a low voice, "No, the only reason I made him agree was for him, not for the stuff. I thought it would be nice for Remus to have some company for a change."

"He has us."

"Oh, so you're willing to suck him off are you?"

"I—oh."

"Didn't you see his face when he agreed? He wanted to do it, not for the stuff, for himself. H guy hasn't had a date in ages and along comes this other guy, readymade and interested, so I thought…I thought you were on the same page. _You're_ the one who said he'd be glad to."

"I didn't think he'd say yes." Sirius muttered and raised his voice slightly, "It's not right." he glared. James let his jacket go and gave him a long stare that made him uncomfortable.

"Homophobia isn't cool, Sirius." He said finally, standing, "Come on, Peter. Let's leave Sirius to come up with a decent apology on his own."

Sirius didn't watch them go like he had with Remus. Instead, he stared down into his glass and muttered to no one in particular, "It's more the problem that I might be the exact opposite of homophobic."


	4. Chapter 4

**Warning:** Hint of Remus/OC action here (sorry! No flames! No flames! You know you love Sweetie anyway ^-^), but no detail. Ah yes, and some Sirius/OC *hides behind hippogriff*

**Part Four**

Sirius disappeared when James and Peter went to fetch Sweetie and sneak him into the castle. It was disgusting, it was wrong, it was…

Because it wasn't Sirius.

Sirius shook his head violently and ducked behind a tapestry, sliding down the wall and sitting on the ground to think. It wasn't because it wasn't him meeting Remus now, was it? He sighed and rested his forehead against his knees, knotting his fingers in his hair. Was it?

"It might be." he whispered, his heart thudding with fear and uncertainty. It had to be something – no one else got hard over kissing a friend for a dare. No one else noticed the way their friend's hair glinted in the sunlight, or the way one side of his mouth drew up in a crooked grin when they made a joke just for him. No one else deliberately made a fool of themselves just to hear their friend's laugh.

He knew it. He _knew_ it.

Sirius liked Remus.

Well, it only made sense. He spent way too much time watching him and he got butterflies when he caught a glimpse of skin when his shirt rode up. A kiss shouldn't do this to a man, he thought irritably. He paused – so how long has this been coming on? True, he had always had a soft spot for Remus, but they all did. Remus always brushed them off when they asked if he was okay when the moon was waxing, but they all figured he was feeling worse than he ever let on. And yes, true, it had been his idea to become animagi and he had refused to let Remus know who was behind it – had it been because he was scared that he would read the gesture the wrong way? _This_ way?

He decided that none of that mattered – all that did was that _now_, he liked Remus and he was beyond furious that some…that some…_manwhore_ was after him and would most likely get his way tonight, with _his Moony_. Sirius froze at the thought, staring at the back of the tapestry.

Since when had he started thinking of him as his Moony? As his?

Sirius gulped and climbed to his feet unsteadily – no one could know about this, no one. Remus would never forgive him, he'd think he was disgusting, lusting after his friend like this and had actually shared a room with him…lust. Did he want Remus like _that_, too? No, how could he? He liked breasts and soft curves. Not once had he ever wanked in the shower over some guy's cock.

_Moony's not just some guy_, he mind supplied unhelpfully.

Ignoring himself, he pushed back into the corridor and stormed up to Gryffindor Tower to find that brown haired girl, Violet or something. Whatever. Once he did, he fully intended to do her hard and fast in the nearest broom closet. All of that proving his masculinity and stuff.

Once was in the common room, he couldn't see either James or Peter, so he supposed they hadn't returned with the pretty boy (Sirius flinched inwardly when he remembered that Remus had called him the same thing the night of the party). Viola, Violet, Sandra…whatshername was sitting by the fire with the flatchested redhead James had tried on in Hogsmead, so he marched over and, already in possession of her attention from the slightly angry way he had approached her, leaned down to whisper in her ear: "Today wasn't enough - I can't get you out of my head."

Whatshername stared up at him, chewing her lip in what she must have thought was a seductive manner, but just made her look like an upset child, and nodded. Sirius suppressed a satisfied smile and jabbed his thumb to the boy's staircase.

"Give me a moment, sweetheart. I gotta get something."

He dashed up the stairs – quickly, to be gone when the others got back – to get the invisibility cloak, knowing James hadn't taken it since Sweetie was a sod and might have tried to steal it. An important rule to remember around their contact – don't show him anything that he'll think he'll be able to sell for a hefty price. Sirius burst into the dormitory and froze.

Sweetie was lying on his back on Remus' bed, clothes on the floor by the door, his legs wrapped around an equally bare Remus. They hadn't noticed him over the sound of the bed springs and Sweetie's moaning, so Sirius stared, unable to tear his eyes from the lean rippling muscles across his back – long, lithe and understated muscles that he chose to hide because exposing them would mean exposing his scars – and the clenching of his firm arse as he moved with Sweetie over and over and over, roughly, deeply, rapidly. Sweetie cried out again and again, his nails raking white patterns across Remus' back to match the faded scars there, as he pulled himself up to kiss him.

Still, Sirius found himself rooted to the spot, even when Remus lifted a hand from Sweetie's hip to roam across the other boy's body. It only took another moment before Sweetie was crying out Remus' name and moaning profanities.

When Remus reached his own shuddering finish, no sound left him. He hung his head in…what? Shame? No, why would he? In exhaustion, and Sweetie pulled himself up to kiss him again. This time, Sweetie spotted Sirius standing in the doorway and paused. Sirius felt fear send a chill through him, certain that Remus was about to turn around and accuse him of being a pervert, but instead Sweetie turned to whisper – loud enough for Sirius to hear clearly – in his ear, "Ready for another round already?"

Remus growled, a low vibration that sent shivers down Sirius' spine and did things to him that made him want to rip Sweetie off him and take his place, and flipped him onto his front hungrily.

Unable to stay sane for any longer, Sirius closed the door softly and went down to grab whatshername and pull her from the common room, urgently needing release, invisibility cloak be damned.

Once whatshername had left the broom closet – thankfully understanding that it was just a quick shag and nothing more – Sirius sank down onto an upturned bucket and groaned miserably.

The girl just…hadn't done it for him. Yes, she'd had a nice sized chest, a pretty enough face and was certainly eager enough and yes, he had gotten his much needed release, but not because of her. In fact, if he hadn't already had a raging erection from walking in on Remus and Sweetie, he wasn't entirely sure that he would have got it up at all. The fact that he had turned the girl to face the wall so he couldn't see her face or those magnificent breasts and ran his fingers through her curly brown hair, so similar to Remus', didn't help matters at all. Neither did the fact that he had replayed the sight of Remus at his climax when he had reached his own.

At least there was no question now of whether or not he lusted after Remus _sexually_.

Sirius ran his hands through his hair and stood to leave. He had decided that he wouldn't tell Remus. He would go up there and wait in the common room until that manwhore left and would go up to apologise for suggesting that his friend prostituted himself for marijuana and alcohol and would then pretend as though he didn't want to rip the boy's clothes off.

If he did tell him about his epiphany that night, that Remus would no longer trust him as a friend, he would feel violated and that their friendship would either turn awkward, or end altogether and he couldn't bear that. How could he ever survive without Moony's sarcastic humour and dark wit? How could he never again bear witness to one of those special smiles he only gave to Sirus when they finished smoking behind the greenhouses? If he ever had to stop walking into the common room and laying his head on Moony's lap as an everyday thing, or had to stop wrestling and tickling him in the dorm when he wouldn't put his book down or wouldn't share his chocolate, Sirius would probably die. Violently and unpleasantly.

So, he made his way back up the tower, walking a long walk of shame, and sat in the empty common room by the dwindling fire and waited. He was only there for half an hour when James and Peter ambled in. Expecting to be ignored, Sirius was surprised when they sat on the sofa opposite him.

"Sorry about before." Sirius mumbled when the silence started to gnaw at his nerves.

"It's Moony you should be apologising to." James said, but he wasn't frowning or yelling, so Sirius relaxed. It seemed he had been forgiven already. One down, one to go. "You over your homophobic issues, now?"

"I'm not homophobic." Sirius frowned, "And he's not gay. He's been out with girls, too."

"Mate, I think we're starting to discover that our Moonpie goes out with anything that moves. Rather like yourself, Padfoot."

"I just…I don't know. I'm waiting to apologise. I figured they were up in the dorm so I waited down here." He lied, shifting under the stare James directed at him, feeling like his best friend could see right through him – he never kept secrets from James and wasn't sure how to go about it.

"Probably." James nodded and checked his watch, "Merlin, it's been over two hours, now. That werewolf can really go at it."

"Sweetie's gonna be sore in the morning." Peter said with a grimace.

"You say that like you know from experience." James grinned. Peter stammered and Sirius interrupted.

"Where have you two been?"

"Kitchens." James answered, "We had the map, so we don't need to ask where you were."

Sirius stared. James had seen him walk in on Remus on the map? Oh gods, his life was over.

"Yeah, saw you with that girl in a cupboard on the fourth floor," James continued, "That Megan one.

Sirius relaxed and only distantly realised that he had been calling the girl by the wrong name the whole time and hoped he hadn't called her anything weird to her face, but couldn't bring himself to care much.

The three of them sat together for another half hour until they heard footsteps descending the staircase and Sweetie appeared, looking dishevelled, but deliriously happy and thoroughly shagged. He waggled his fingers at them, assuring James that he knew the way now and to sit back down, he'll show himself out. Sirius didn't miss the grin that was shot in his direction before the boy exited through the portrait hole.

"Now's your chance," James prompted, nodding his head towards the dorm, "before he falls asleep."

Sirius nodded and got up to climb the stairs to what felt was his execution, dreading the possibility that Sweetie had told Remus that he had been watching them, which was highly likely, given the nature of the guy. He pushed the door open slowly this time, checking that Remus was decent this time – although it was a bit late for caution – and, seeing that he was sprawled on his back smoking, Sirius ducked in and closed the door behind him.

By the smile Remus flashed him, Sirius guessed that Sweetie hadn't blabbed and that he had been automatically forgiven again by another person who was used to him screwing things up. This time, though, Sirius still felt the need to apologise, even if he couldn't fully explain. He sat on the bed beside Remus, watching the way the smoke left from between his lips.

"Where are the other three?" Sirius asked finally.

"Frank's with Alice tonight and the twins have a date with Slughorn, scrubbing cauldrons."

"Ah." Sirius mumbled, "Listen, I'm sorry about—"

"Don't." Remus interrupted, his eyes glinting with a hint of amber in the lamplight, the way they did when he got excited and his animal side came out. Sirius shivered pleasantly at the thought of those wolfish eyes being turned on him. "I overreacted. I'd blame the moon, but the full's still a week away."

"Just one of those days, I get it." Sirius said dismissively, glad that Remus hadn't asked why he had reacted like that himself and took the cigarette when he was offered it. He took a long, slow drag, secretly aroused by the thought of his mouth being where Remus' had just been. He opened his eyes to find Remus studying him intently and hoped to god he didn't have a hard on, but couldn't check in case he did and made it obvious.

"You okay?" Remus asked, taking the cigarette back. Sirius shifted – yep, he was definitely sporting a semi.

"Yeah fine, why?"

"You look flushed." Moony answered, lifting a single brow. Gods, Sirius loved it when he did that…so sexy.

"Oh, I, err, just met up with that girl from before."

"Right. Was she good?"

Sirius' eyes were trained on the way Remus' lips were shaped around the cigarette and rolled his bottom lip into his mouth, "Oh, _yes_." He breathed, before catching himself and redirecting his gaze to the window, where the moon shone threateningly, "Erm, yes. She was."

"Such a slut, Pads."

He loved the way only Moony shortened his nickname into another nickname that was somehow sweet and imagined the way the same line would sound from between his legs. Oh gods…would it be suspicious if he took a cold shower now?

"Pads?"

Sirius crossed his legs uncomfortably. Yes, yes it _would_ be bloody suspicious, since it's nearly bloody midnight. Who has a shower at midnight? No one, that's who.

"Pads? You sure you're okay?"

Oh, shitting fuck ducks.

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Just tired."

"Oh, sorry my fault."

"No, don't worry. I'm the one keeping you up."

"You're not, honestly. I always have a smoke after a shag." Remus said bluntly.

Sirius almost fainted on the spot at the revelation that this had not been Remus' first time going the 'whole way'. Why it was such a surprise, he wasn't sure, because under the old jumpers, the affair with anything with words on it and his inability to wake up in the morning without attempting to decapitate at least two people, Sirius had always suspected that Remus was pretty desirable and now he knew that first hand. Maybe it had been all those things and more that had led him to thinking that no one else but himself and perhaps the other Marauders would learn to appreciate the enigma that was Remus 'Moony' Lupin.

"Right, well, I'm going to bed." Sirius managed to choke out.

"Okay, night, Pads." Remus smiled softly, stubbing out the remainder of the cigarette on his nightstand and flicking the lamp off. Sirius replied tightly, stripping his clothes off with his back to Remus so he wouldn't reveal the tell-tale bulge and dove into bed, drawing the hangings around him and reaching for his wand to cast a few silencing charms. Finally free to do so, he slid his hand under the elastic of his boxers and groaned in relief, imagining Moony's fingers wrapping around him instead. It didn't take long to reach his relief and to fall asleep, thinking of amber eyes and tensed, scarred shoulders.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** I actually have this story all written up, which is why the updates are so frequent, so enjoy! Also, thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far - you make my day :D

He was on fire.

Well, one his shoes was, but still, he was on bloody _fire_.

And all they could do was laugh.

"Put it out!" Sirius cried, hopping around their usual tree by the side of the tree, shaking his flaming foot around desperately. James roared with another bout of donkey-like laughter (honestly, the similarity was astounding), and Peter sniggered. Remus watched with mirth dancing in his eyes.

"Seriously, my foot's staring to get really uncomfortably warm!"

"Use your wand!" James called. Sirius paused in his hopping to glare at him. He knew perfectly well that his wand was in his school bag and it was sitting next to him, completely useless. Before he could demand that James use _his_ wand to put out the bloody fire, Sirius lost his balance mid-hop and windmilled his arms.

But the windmilling proved futile – he fell backwards, as if in slow motion, and landed in the lake. He resurfaced spluttering and coughing to the others' shouts of laughter and taunts and climbed out, shivering – shitting, shitty, shit April weather – and dripped.

At least his foot had been put out.

"You smell like wet dog." James tittered.

"F-f-fucking f-f-freezing…" Sirius said his teeth chattering and arms wrapped around himself. Remus smirked and gestured him forwards to cast an _exaresco_ drying charm on him. Sirius thanked him shakily, still shuddering and rubbing his arms.

"You can't be that cold, man, it's started to warm up!" James exclaimed, throwing his arms out, almost smacking Peter in the face, "winter's hot mistress summer is on her way!"

"D-doesn't mean the lake's not s-still fucking f-freezing." Sirius scowled.

"We're wizards!" James scoffed in disgust, "We can't we charm the water warmer?"

"Half the life in the lake will die." Remus answered dryly, "And it's far too big."

"That's stupid. I know a way to do it."

"You d-don't know sh-shit." Sirius said, bouncing up and down to generate body heat. Remus laughed and reached up to grasp his wrist and pull him down. Sirius practically fell face first onto his chest and was too stunned to protest when he was manhandled until he was sat in between Remus' legs. Sirius swallowed thickly, unsure of what had just happened, when Remus leaned back against the oak trunk and pulled him back against his chest.

"Moony, would you please refrain from flaunting your poofter love with Padfoot in front of us?" James asked, amusement in his voice. Sirius couldn't make himself look, all of his concentration focused on the way Remus' arms wrapped around his waist casually, feeling a flush creeping across his face.

"I'm sharing body heat." Remus answered casually, as if he intimately embraced everyone like this all the time, "Be careful around the lake, 'cause I'd do the same for you."

"Spare us from the poofter act, Moony," James smirked away, "We know it's only Padfoot you'd cuddle with in public."

"S'not public." Sirius mumbled, feeling Remus withdrawer one hand and rummage around in his robes, nudging him in the back slightly.

"No, no, it's just outside with dozens of other people." James agreed sarcastically, "Nope, not public at all."

"I've said it before, I'll say it again. You don't know shit."

"Ladies, ladies." Remus calmed them, shoving an unlit cigarette in Sirius' mouth to light it with one hand, his other hand buried under Sirius shirt and causing a pleasurable burning sensation, before taking it back and putting it between his own lips. "Gods, that's better." He sighed, blowing smoke to the side and resting his chin on Sirius' head, who only _just_ managed to prevent himself from squeaking.

"You've been smoking a lot, recently." Peter observed.

"Disgusting habit." James scorned. Sirius could hear him wrinkling his nose up, "Wrecks your Quidditch game."

"Lucky I'm not an athlete, then." Remus shrugged, jogging Sirius' head, "It can't really harm me, I'm a werewolf, remember?"

"I think they're horrible," Peter chimed in, "And I'm not an athlete."

"Definitely not." Sirius snickered.

"That's just because you can't afford them." Remus scoffed, "You mum doesn't send you enough money, does she?"

"No offence, but you're not exactly rolling in it, either, mate." James said none too tactfully.

"Yeah, well, I'm shagging the supplier, aren't I?"

Sirius stiffened as the others laughed and exchanged more jokes and banter, too tense to hope that Remus hadn't noticed his unease at the mention of Sweetie. The first time Sweetie had visited their dorm (and the time Sirius had walked in on them doing the dirty), had been a few days ago and the boy had met with Remus after sneaking into the castle every night since. Sirius hated it, hated the manwhore that gave him a smug smirk every time he looked his way and wished that Remus would just break it off already. He obviously didn't _like_ the energetic twat…then again, Sirius himself had put up with many a girl he despised simply because they were a good screw. So he kept his mouth shut and pretended the jokey conversation taking place was killing him inside.

"So why are you stressed out enough to smoke yourself to death?" James asked and Sirius silently rejoiced in the change of topic. Remus shrugged. "Aw come on, Moony, tell us!"

"Fine. There's this person I like and I'm not sure what to do about it."

"Oh! Oh! Who?"

Sirius felt, rather than heard, Remus laugh. The low rumble vibrated through him satisfyingly.

"Like I'd tell you lot. You'd just ruin it for me even more."

"Alright, calm your broomsticks Moony." James chuckled, "Just tell us the situation and we can give you advice on how to woo the fair lady."

"Like you woo the fair Lily?"

"Not fair. Spill, wolf boy."

Another rumble from Remus' chest.

"Save it, fork ears. So, there's this person I like and I think they like me back."

"Not seeing the problem, Moony." Peter muttered bitterly.

"I'm not sure if they like _me_, or if they just like the idea of me."

"Ah…" James nodded, "…what?"

Sirius felt a sigh lift and drop Remus' chest and the rest of the conversation floated past his ears as he decided to just relax enjoy the moment, closing his eyes and feeling the warmth from Moony's body seeping into his own, the one hand under his shirt and clutching his vest the centre of his world, the smell of tobacco and Moony lulling him off gently.

Sirius woke in the alarmingly cold night air beside the lake and started, sitting up quickly, before remembering and turned to see Moony smiling at him and stretching.

"Thank Merlin you're awake. You're a heavy bugger, you know." He said jokingly. Sirius knew he wasn't really scolding him, but he flushed anyway, scooting away on his knees and giving Remus a contrite smile.

"Sorry," he shrugged, clearing his throat and getting to his feet, dusting himself off and adopting a haughty expression, "Don't know why I fell asleep. Not like you're comfortable or anything."

Remus laughed and lifted and hand, letting Sirius help him up, "And what was so unpleasing about my role as your pillow, mister Padfoot?"

"Oh, mister Moony," Sirius grinned as they stared towards the castle, "There's no fat on you, just bones."

"Well Sirius, darling, I didn't realise you found my body so unattractive. Perhaps you should look for another lover if you are so unsatisfied with me."

Sirius choked on his own spit at the joke he normally would have seen coming, made a gargling noise and – just to make sure he received maximum humiliation – tripped on a small rock hidden in the grass. Remus laughed loudly as he steadied him with a strong hand on his arm. Or a usually strong hand anyway…

Remus stumbled as well, as he tried to stop Sirius from falling on his face and Sirius had to return the favour the moment he had recovered, frowning across at him in concern and glancing up at the moon.

"Full's tomorrow night." Remus said conversationally. Sirius didn't reply as they entered the castle and started up the stair case just as a rush of students finished dinner to stare at his friend instead; he had been so engrossed in his own selfish dilemma concerning Remus and his trouser area, that he hadn't noticed the nearly-full moon and the drawn paleness of Moony's face.

"I didn't realise." Sirius admitted finally, when they were climbing through the portrait hole, "How are you feeling? Maybe we should go down and grab whatever's left of dinner—"

"No. I won't be able to stomach anything." Remus shook his head, leading the way straight up to the dorm. He turned on the stairs and smiled. Sirius was ashamed that now was the first time he was seeing the monthly feebleness. "James and Peter will be at dinner, you go join them."

"No." Sirius answered firmly, "I'll come up with you."

Remus sighed, but didn't protest further as they climbed up to the dormitory. Once inside, Sirius lit the lamp beside Peter's bed, keeping the light as far away as possible from Remus, like he knew he preferred it on nights like these and drew the curtains, blocking the light of the moon that his werewolf friend often said called to him when the full was so close. Once he had finished, he turned to see Remus already stripped down to his boxers and vest, curled up on his side.

Seeing Remus Lupin vulnerable was a strange phenomenon – he was always so confident and unshakable. No matter the fact that it happened every month and he had witnessed it since third year, it always hurt when he saw his Moony like this.

Sirius made his way over, quietly in case he had fallen asleep, and was shocked to see Remus' body quaking and to hear small snuffling sounds coming from him.

"Moony?" he asked worriedly, leaning over him to see if he was actually crying (Moony didn't _cry_), "…Remus? Are you okay?"

Remus didn't answer, so Sirius sat on the bed beside him and touched his arm tentatively – the skin was hot, like he was running a fever. He sat there in silence until the shaking calmed and the sobs quietened.

"I…" Remus started, but trailed off when another shudder racked through him and tried again, "I was bitten on the exact day ten years ago tomorrow."

Remus paused and Sirius waited patiently for him to continue.

"Same month, same day." He laughed shakily, "Rarely happens, but when it does, the moon calls the wolf stronger than ever. I can feel it trying to make me transform even now…worse at night…"

"It's happened before?" Sirius asked softly.

"Once."

"How did you get through it?"

"I…my mother lay with me through the night and day before – human contact helps sometimes. There was nothing her or my father could do during the full. I almost died."

"You'll have us there this time, Moony," Sirius assured him, hearing the gentle confidence in his own voice and hoping it comforted his friend, "You'll have Padfoot to keep you safe."

"Thank you, Pads." Remus whispered. In a moment of sheer bravery and heartfelt sorrow, Sirius lay down on the bed and scooted close to Remus, curling around his back and trying to let as much of his skin make contact with his friend's as possible. The act had nothing sexual or desirable about it; it was simply a friend doing what little he could to ease another friend's pain.

"I'm sorry. I'm so pathetic."

"Don't be stupid, Moony." Sirius scolded gently, resting his head on the pillow and staring at Remus' hair and watching the red glints dance in the distant lamp light, "Everyone needs some comfort sometimes."

"Even you?" Remus snorted and Sirius was relieved to hear the waver gone from his voice. He hoped the contact was helping.

"Even me." Sirius nodded, even though Remus was facing the other way.

"You're starting to sound disturbingly wise, Pads." A pause. "The others will gossip when they come up to find you spooning me, you know."

"Let them." Sirius murmured, but pulled the hangings around the bed closed anyway.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning brought an unreasonably happy Sirius, a bad-tempered, wolfy Remus and a staring James and Peter. Sirius stretched cheerfully, pushing the hangings aside, where the other two were peeking through as Remus sat up beside him, grumbling and muttering – things to which he was prone in the mornings.

"Out the way, gentlemen," Sirius grinned, "Need to make myself pretty for Slughorn."

"We saw your bed empty, so we went to ask Moony where you were and…" James started, glancing at Remus who was giving Sirius a meaningful glare which he guessed meant that he didn't want the others to know about this particularly nasty full moon, "Why were you sleeping together?"

"Oh, come on, Prongsy!" Sirius said as he started pulling out clean robes from his trunk and sending Remus a wink to let him know that his secret was safe with him, "We always used to do it when we were scared little first years."

James' reply was swallowed up by the more violent than usual slam of the bathroom door. Sirius, James and Peter stared after Remus, blinking stupidly. James turned to Sirius, furious, as Peter busied himself with getting dressed, pretending to mind his own business.

"What hell did you do, Sirius?" he demanded, stomping up to him.

"What? I—nothing!"

"Right. So you didn't come onto him, then?"

Sirius' jaw dropped, his robes tumbling to the floor at their feet, good mood vanished. "What?" he asked, hearing his voice come out hoarse and hating it. James folded his arms and cocked his hips, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Ever since we found out that he does guys, too, you've been acting weird." He accused. Sirius gulped, feeling his doom creeping up on him. "I thought you were homophobic, but obviously not."

"You, err, remember that?" Sirius asked, turning and busying himself with picking up his robes, hiding his panicked flush from his best friend – the best friend who could read him like a bloody book.

"Obviously," James said scornfully, "Why would I have set him up with Sweetie if I didn't?"

"Right." Sirius nodded, as though he wasn't thinking _stupid, stupid, stupid_. When James didn't say anything further, he turned to find his best mate watching him closely in manner that made him uncomfortable.

"Why would I come on to him?" he asked quickly, "I don't swing that way, mate."

"Like I said, you've been acting weird." James shrugged, "And there's the fact that you come on to anything that moves, so I wouldn't put it past you to try it on with one of your best mates."

Sirius narrowed his eyes dangerously, "I haven't come on to _you_."

"Well yeah, 'cause that'd be gross," James grimaced, wrinkling his nose in disgust, "You're like my brother, Black, you twat. If you tried it on with me, I'd break your nose and ruin your pretty face."

"While I'm glad you think I'm pretty, I honestly have no interest in you, Prongs," Sirius said jokily, pulling on his robes, "_or_ Moony. Or Wormtail, either, now I come to think about it. He's not cute enough."

"Charming." Peter commented drily from across the room. Meanwhile, James was still watching him closely.

"You're sure you don't…you know?" James asked, finally looking uncomfortable himself with the topic of conversation, "Like, are you sure that you're not just curious, or…fascinated? And, you know, wanna try it out?"

"Why not? Moony's a fine specimen under all that wool." Sirius grinned wittily – which was probably the wrong thing to do, because James' face darkened. Sirius took a step back when James took a step forward, the backs of his knees knocking into his bed.

"Don't you dare mess with Remus," he snapped, showing a rare bout of anger that looked odd on his usually carefree face, "You know what he's like – even if he's hurting, he'll take it on headfirst and pretend everything's fine. If you hurt him in any way, I will personally make sure you can't procreate."

Instead of commenting on the intelligent choice of words, Sirius retorted, "You don't know shit, you fuckwit," and stormed from the dormitory, grabbing his bag on the way out. Remus emerged from the bathroom as the door slammed shut and blinked in surprise, most of his bad mood gone, but still feeling irritable and wrong in his own skin – daytime was better than night-time around the time of this kind of full moon, but he was still prone to mood swings and an uncomfortable ache. He looked to James questioningly.

"What's up with the dog?"

James just shrugged, "No idea. Maybe he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Oh, no, sorry. More like the wrong bed altogether."

Remus frowned as James moved away to get dress and Peter walked past to claim the bathroom. He shook his head with a heavy sigh and pulled on some old muggle clothes – a pair of old worn jeans and a too-big, large-knit jumper.

"You not coming to lessons?" James asked, his face softening as he watched Remus struggling to bend down far enough to tie his scuffed walking boots; may as well be comfortable in old clothes if he was going to feel like ripping his own skin off all day long. He shook his head and immediately wished he hadn't, losing focus for a second.

"I'm not going to Pomfrey either." Remus informed him, getting to his feet a little unsteadily and slinging his bag over his shoulder, "I've got essays to write. And anyway, we've got customers coming at lunch, right? I wouldn't be able to escape the hospital wing once I'm there to come and help."

"We'd be okay," James assure him, "You should—"

"_I'm fine_." Remus snapped, turning away and leaving the dorm in a huff.

"Merlin…" James sighed to the empty room, bending to pull his socks on, "You'd think I lived with a bunch of women."

Sirius found himself walking to potions with Evans, who had been gracefully descending (in that irritating way she did), the girl's staircase at the same time he had been stomping down the boy's. She had asked him what was wrong and if that toe rag Potter had done something stupid again and, somehow, Sirius had ended up confiding in her kind green eyes that usually flashed dangerously at him and her sympathetic smile. Of course, he hadn't disclosed any names or specifics, but she pieced together the general gist of the issue and had dragged him out of the common room to discuss it.

"Listen," he said awkwardly as Evans pestered him for more details, "I don't really feel comfortable talking about this."

"Just tell me!" she persisted, nudging him in a friendly manner that he wasn't familiar with when it came to James' apparent reason for living.

"Fine." He sighed, "I know that they're interested in someone else."

"How would you know that?" Evans asked sceptically.

"Told me."

"Seriously? She…that's…cold hearted. What a bitch!"

Sirius realised that Evans had assumed they were talking about a girl and grabbed the idea and ran with it, throwing her even further off the scent of trying to guess who it was, "No, she doesn't know I like her. Just thinks I'm a pal."

"This person she likes doesn't like her back?" Evans asked as they reached the potions classroom in the dungeons and waited, leaning against the wall, as she had dragged him down much earlier than he – or anyone by the look of it – had ever cared to.

"She said he thinks he does." Sirius shrugged miserably, "But she thinks he likes the idea of her, not _her_. Whatever the hell that means."

"Oh." Evans said in surprise, "She means this guy only likes her because she's pretty, or mysterious, or unobtainable. I think Potter thinks that way about me, actually."

Sirius looked down at her, surprised.

"I think he only wants me because I've said no the whole time. Like I'm a challenge."

"Evans," he laughed disbelievingly, "Trust me, by the way he drones on about you every waking minute, I think anyone would have trouble even _considering_ to believe that."

Evans lifted a brow in a way that reminded Sirius of Remus, "What does he say?"

Sirius smirked at the interested smile she was trying to hide and shrugged mysteriously, "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

She fell silent, leaving Sirius to feel guilty in peace as the rest of their class started to show up and Slughorn let them into the classroom; he shouldn't have blown up at James like that, he had only been concerned about Remus. Sirius knew the feeling, so he should have understood. He sighed, earning a curious glance from Evans. James had been so close to uncovering his badly covered secret, it had freaked him out. He followed his classmates in, almost face-planting a girl's head in front of him when none other than Severus Snape pushed past him to get to Evans, to whom he whispered angrily, "what were you doing talking to _him_?"

Sirius laughed cruelly and slung his arm across Evans' shoulder to pull her towards his table, calling over at Snape, "She talking to someone _worth_ talking to, Snivellus. Go take your greasy hair to bother someone else."

"Thanks." Evans muttered bitterly as she sat at Sirius' usual table on the stool beside him. Sirius shrugged.

"Saw that your friend wasn't here. What's her name? Julie? So I knew Sluggers'd pair you with greaseball over there and anyway, Remus isn't here today. So you owe me, by the way."

"So chivalrous." She laughed, shaking her head. Sirius decided that making Evans laugh was a much more pleasurable experience than tormenting her, seeing as his balls hadn't yet been hexed into a pair of damned _heavy_ melons.

"You won't think so when Prongs gets here." He grinned evilly, fully expecting an annoyed sigh or an agitated statement. Which meant he was completely blown away when she tried and failed to suppress and small smile.

"Oh my…Evans, do you _like_ Prongs?" he demanded. She shushed him quickly, flapping her hands around desperately.

"Shut _up_, Black!" she snapped, back to her old, she-devil self, "Merlin, I don't know. Sometimes I think he's alright, like when he pushes my hair behind my ear, or gives me that _smile_ when he asks if I'm okay. But then he does something utterly _irresponsible_, like turning first years' robes into dresses, or sending me singing goblins." She sighed resignedly, "Please don't say anything. I don't want him to have hope if nothing ends up happening."

Sirius blinked at her, surprised, but nodded dumbly. Honestly, he'd had no idea.

"Black, you say anything and you're dead." She hissed as James and Peter entered the rooms. James almost tripped over his own feet at the sight of Evans at their table where Moony usually sat, followed by a discrete hex under Slughorn's nose at Snape, who made a snide comment about his balance and his big head.

Remus sat in the library, collapsed in defeat over his stacks of books and smudged parchment, having officially Given Up. He was tired and felt like his bones were too big for his body. He had snapped at a group of first years for talking, when they hadn't actually uttered and word and then almost cried over his cruelness in a dark corner, alone with his books and essays. Usually, books always made him feel better, but with an intense moon like this coming up, nothing much was working. He wished someone would touch him like Pads had the night before, but that would mean asking someone, which meant asking for help, which meant admitting weakness.

Which was not cool.

So it was lucky that Lily sat herself down uninvited at his table and reached out to lay her hand on top of his. He jumped at the sudden contact, but smiled when he looked up and saw who it was.

"The full's tonight, isn't it?" she asked gently. Remus nodded with a quiet sigh – Lily knew, of course, about his lycanthropy issue (it had been growing far too difficult keeping his mysterious absences from his patrolling partner and study partner, especially when she had been so close to figuring it out anyway), but the other Marauders didn't know she knew and she didn't know they knew. Kept it simple. Sort of. Okay, not really, but he didn't need any more pity-filled glances exchanged across the common room, thank you very much.

"Why aren't you in the hospital wing?" she asked concernedly. Remus shrugged, unwilling to disclose information about Wolf Wares reopening that afternoon, thanks to their finally sorting their new stock out and relocating it.

"Why aren't you in class?"

Lily seemed to get the message and changed the topic, much to Remus' relief.

"Arithmancy was cancelled. I sat on your table in potions this morning." She added casually.

"Why?" Remus asked, raised a brow, "Decided to torture yourself with James?"

Lily laughed, "No, Julie's ill, so Black saved me from having to pair with Severus."

"And how bad was James?" Remus asked in amusement, thankful that Lily hadn't moved her hand away, somehow seeming to silently understand, "Did he profess his love to you again? Try to slip you a love potion? Again?"

"No…" she trailed off distractedly, her eyes losing focus, "He was actually…normal. Didn't say anything inappropriate and spoke to me like a sane person. It was nice, really."

"Isn't it time that you just went for it and said yes, already?" Remus asked with a wry smile. Lily shrugged, smiling mysteriously.

"I'm still not sure. If he can prove that he's not a complete idiot more than once a week, I'll give in at last."

"At last." Remus agreed, nodding and propping his head up on his free hand. Lily lowered her eyes pointedly as Madam Pince swished down the aisle, making her rounds spying on students who she suspected to be talking too loudly and making sure no one misused her books.

"Any progress on your love life?" Lily asked once the hawkeyed and dog-eared librarian had vanished, her tone lower, "Still with that guy James set you up with?"

Yes, Lily knew about Sweetie, too, but Remus had told her his name was Alan (which was actually true, but more off-putting than one would expect) and that James had introduced them in Hogsmead. She also knew that he was bisexual. Which was inevitable, really, since he wasn't exactly secretive about the fact – which made it ridiculously hilarious that his _three best friends_ had somehow managed to miss the fact that he was shagging girls _and_ boys.

"I'm not _with_ him, Lils, I've already told you that. I'm just bedding the guy." Remus corrected, rolling his eyes when Lily scowled, "I _know_ it's not good, but he's okay looking and a good screw."

"But you told me you're crush knows you're with Alan," Lily frowned, confused, "Won't that send him the wrong signals?"

"First of all, it's not a _crush_. I'm not a girl," Remus smirked playfully.

"Well I am, so I'll call it what like ." She huffed, but smiled back.

"Second of all, I don't think he likes _me_, I think he likes the _idea_ of me."

A flurry of expressions passed across Lily's face and he only caught surprise and pleasure. Remus, suspicious, was about to ask her what she thought she knew, because she obviously believed she had guessed _something_, but she checked her watch and stood, gathering her things.

"Lunch." She said shortly, helping a slightly unsteady Remus to his feet, "Wanna come with?"

"Can't eat before a full." Remus said, shaking his head – _slowly_, since quickly made him feel like he was being shaken around between a hippogriff's teeth, "I'm going up the dorm."

"Want me to walk you up?"

Remus hurriedly squashed an unreasonable, sudden fit of anger at the sympathy and shook his head again, swallowing tightly. Lily nodded warily, seeing the change in his eyes and the set of his jaw. She helped him pack his books away and walked with him out of the library, where they parted ways, Lily's sly smile still pulling at the corners of her mouth.

**A/N:** Started a new story by the way. Don't worry, I've already got this one written up to the end, so it won't go unfinished or uncared for :) So check out Behind the Charm, an AU in which Remus (again), is a bit of a badass, but in a different way...seeing a theme here?


	7. Chapter 7

Sirius looked up automatically when the door to the dormitory opened and Remus entered. He felt his chest tighten in anxious concern at his friend's drawn face, the black rings under his eyes and the way he had to grasp the door to stop from swaying, appalled at himself for not foreseeing this days ago. Remus was a good actor and preferred to keep his struggles to himself, something that his three friends usually saw through instantly.

The door closed and Remus' legs gave way from beneath him, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. James and Peter shouted, jumping up, but Sirius was already moving – having been watching the other boy closely – lunging forwards from his bed and catching Remus before he hit his head on the floor. He looked down at him in horror – the werewolf's eyelids were fluttering as though unable to close, only the whites of his eyes visible and his body twitched convulsively.

"Shit. Get Madam Pomfrey." Sirius ordered in a low voice. When neither of the other boys moved and just stared in shock instead, he raised his voice, "GET MADAM POMFREY!"

Peter nodded hurried and rushed from the dormitory as James stood back and watched, as though too stunned to move. Sirius tapped Remus' cheek lightly, repeating his name over and over. Short, rough groans were coming from him now, but the convulsing was starting to die down.

"Remus, come on," Sirius said, hearing his calm voice that so strongly contradicted the panic he was feeling, "Come on, don't let it take over. Concentrate. Look at me."

Remus seemed to respond to his voice and his eyes closed tightly.

"No, look at _me_, Remus."

Remus' eyes opened slowly and met Sirius', who swallowed thickly. The amber in them was the only colour evident there, the soft brown lost. They were filled with a struggling mixture of pain, panic and anger. Sirius felt Remus' chest starting to rise and fall more calmly under his hand.

"Okay." Sirius whispered breathlessly, "Okay…"

The dormitory door burst open and Madam Pomfrey entered, flushed and breathless. Unlike James and Peter, she didn't stop to stare in shock, but immediately knelt beside Sirius and Remus, busying herself with checking his temperature and pulse, holding his eyes wide to shine wandlight into them and asking questions that Sirius answered, because Remus could only rasp wordlessly and catch his breath at the pain it seemed like it caused.

"You will stay here." Madam Pomfrey instructed the watching boys briskly as she transfigured a stretcher and levitated Remus onto it and cast a wordless that made him go limp.

"What's happening?" Sirius demanded, "Is he going to be okay?"

Pomfrey hesitated uncharacteristically and James stepped forward impatiently, finally breaking out of his trance.

"It's okay, Madam Pomfrey," he said impatiently, "we know he's a werewolf. Is he going to be alright?"

Madam Pomfrey stared between the three of them with something akin to shock and admiration in her eyes, before shaking herself and answering, "Yes, well, I think so. I've read about this kind of full moon. The wolf is trying to get out, but because there is no moon in the sky, it can't. Instead, it is trying to rip it's way out by force. It can't succeed so…" she trailed off, clearing her throat as she looked down at Remus tenderly, like a grandmother looking at her grandchild. "I need to get him to the hospital wing. Thank you for calming him down Sirius, but I don't want any of you visiting until after the transformation."

Sirius watched, feeling helpless, as she started towards the door, the stretcher following. The nurse turned before she disappeared, to smile at them sadly.

"Thank you." She said, and left.

"For what?" Peter asked in confusion, but James waved a hand and rounded on Sirius.

"What's happening to him?" he demanded, "You know what it is, don't you?"

"Yes." Sirius snapped back, lifting his chin in the defiant sham the others had nick named the Son of a Black pose, "He doesn't want anyone else to know."

James stared back for a long moment, before backing off and nodding in defeat.

"Fine. I know how his pride gets in the way of his welfare."

"You can ask him yourself in a couple of days, but it's not my place to say."

They were silent for a while, each considering their own thoughts quietly, until James clapped his hands together and said with false bravado, "Right! Let's go down to the Room of Requirement and open up shop. Moony would never forgive us if we skipped a day of work just for him."

The rest of the day was uneventful, but painful. Sirius was fidgety in the rest of his classes as he waited for the moon to rise and got reprimanded by teachers more than once. It was down an empty corridor at ten pm that evening and on his way back from writing lines for Professor Awarey, their Defence Against the Dark Arts professor this year, that Sirius encountered Snape.

Hardly in the mood to deal with the slimy Slytherin, Sirius made to simply ignore the other boy as he passed him in the corridor, but Snape apparently _wanted_ to get hexed, as he called after him: "Where's your lover at, Black?"

Sirius stopped, his shoulders tensing, and turned to meet the greasy haired boy's smirk with a stony expression, "And to whom are you referring, Snape?" he asked coldly.

"Lupin, of course." Snape drawled, "The one you were _embracing_ so_ closely_ at the lake yesterday night? Half the school witnessed your sickening display, Black."

There was no point in explaining, so Sirius just said, "Go fuck yourself, Snivellus," and spat on the floor at Snape's feet and turned to walk away. He had to meet James and Peter in the common room so they could make their way outside under the invisibility cloak. They always arrived in the shack before Madam Pomfrey and Remus did, to wait with him when she had gone until the moon rose. Then they would transform into their animal counterparts and let the full moon commence. He was close to running late and this _snake_ wasn't helping anything.

"You don't get to disrespect me, _bloodtraitor_." Snape hissed vehemently. Sirius spun just in time to see Snape lifting his wand and cast a hasty disarming spell, quickly discarding magic soon after and stalking forwards to pin the Slytherin against a wall with his forearm pressing threateningly into his throat.

"I didn't realise being called a bloodtraitor would bother you so much." Snape sneered, trying to sound amused, but choking slightly instead when Sirius pressed his arm forwards into his throat. Sirius laughed a chilling, humourless laugh.

"Oh, believe me, Snivellus, it doesn't." he spat, "Unfortunately, though, you've caught me on a bad day. I'm rather more interested in why you find me and Remus so intriguing."

"I know what he is." Snape whispered. Sirius released him quickly and stepped back.

"What do you mean—"

"Don't act dumb, Black," Snape smirked, stepping forwards, "He disappears one night every month, he—"

"_Shut up_." Sirius clenched his fists and leant towards Snape, a twisted smile cricking his sharp features, "If you know so much, why haven't you gone running to Dumbledore?"

"Once I get evidence, I will."

Sirius' smile widened and he stepped forward, making Snape back up against the wall, "You want evidence? He transforms under the Whomping Willow. Press the knot on the base of the tree to get past."

Leaving that morsel of information, Sirius turned and left Snape staring after him in surprise for a moment, before he heard running footsteps in the opposite direction. Sirius allowed himself a small smirk and continued on to the Tower. He didn't get very far, however, as James and Peter ran into him in the entrance hall.

"Where the hell have you been? It's almost time!" James scolded, "We were going to go down without you, even though we couldn't exactly control a bloody _werewolf_ without Padfoot."

"Ran into Snivellus," Sirius muttered distractedly as he followed them out of the castle doors, "He was getting unnecessarily nosy about where Remus disappears to every month, so I gave him a hint of how to find what he's looking for."

"What?" James asked dumbly, stopped in his tracks and making Sirius walk into him. Even Peter looked shocked. "You sent Snape to the Shrieking Shack? _Where Remus is about to transform any minute_?"

"Serves him right for bothering—"

"No, Black, you _idiot_!" James gasped, staring through the darkness towards the Whomping Willow, desperately wringing his hands. He turned to Sirius furiously, "What the fuck did you think would fucking happen? That Snape would get a _scratch_ and a little _scare_ and be on his way? He'll get bitten—no, no, he'll be killed. And do you know what that would make your _friend_, Remus? A _murderer_."

"James," Peter said urgently, pointing through the dark. James and Sirius looked around and saw Snape at the Willow, using a long branch that Pomfrey must have left to poke at the base. They watched in horror, Sirius feeling his heart race and his palms grow slick – what had he _done_?

"Oh gods," James muttered, before setting off at a dead sprint towards the Willow without a backwards look, Peter hurriedly transforming into a rat and following to let James into the secret passage under the tree. Sirius watched them disappear and sank to his knees with a helpless sob.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Rewrote this scene over and over, but the typical 'oh my god, Sirius, why would you do that? I'm going to hate you for ages and loathe myself unnecessarily before forgiving you because I'm actually in love with you' - not knocking that line, I've used it myself, but it just didn't fit this version of Remus. Hope you find this feasible :)

Remus sat in the Shrieking Shack under the thin blanket, folding his clothes and trying to stay calm. It was ridiculous, really, how scared he was. They would come. They _would_ come. Sure, they were usually at least half hour early before the moon rose and they were really pushing now, with only a few minutes – he could _feel_ it coming – but who was he to know why they were late? Oh, Merlin, maybe they got caught trying to sneak out. No, they wouldn't be so stupid as to get caught, not with this.

He looked down at his body, eyes tracing over the scars across his arms, torso and legs, feeling them burning and itching. He could feel it coming. It was coming. This one was going to be a bad one – the wolf was taunting him, excited to be out on a night so much connected to the large bite mark on his left thigh, connected to the night he was bitten as a scared six year old boy.

Remus breathed in deeply and out slowly, trying to stop the shuddering shakes starting to wrack his body. Fear was imaginary. Pain was useless unless given in to. He repeated the mantra in his head over and over again, closing his eyes and trying to be patient, trying to pretend to himself that he wasn't scared by the fact that the wolf had stopped trying to hurt him – to escape – and was patiently waiting for the moon, waiting for the chance to _hurt_ him.

A sudden twinge at the base of him spine made his eyes fly open. Remus stared through the window at the bright, white orb hanging in the sky ominously, spitefully. He had a moment to panic and think desperately, _why aren't they here? Sirius knows, he knows…Sirius…_

A crack as his vertebrae snapped and reshaped itself and he was gone.

_Moony. Moony. Moony. Moony._

Remus shifted slightly and instantly regretted it. He felt like he had been trampled on by a dozen Hungarian Horntails and his head protested at the light that filtered through his eyelids.

_Moony. Moony. Moony._

He had to wake up just to tell whoever was repeated his name over and over to _shut the hell up_ and let him die in peace. Remus opened his eyes slowly, blinking rapidly at the bright light shining mockingly through the windows of the hospital wing. Slowly, he lifted his head to check his injuries and winced inwardly at the sight of the bandages wrapped around his torso. The rest was the usual scratches, if a little deeper and longer, and Pomfrey had probably healed a mass of broken bones already; he could feel the ache of recently knitted bones everywhere.

"Moony…"

Remus' head snapped around – which he instantly regretted – to see Sirius in a chair beside his bed, slumped over on the bed with his head in his arms, sleeping fitfully and murmuring his name.

"Ah, Remus!"

Remus turned, slowly this time, to see Madam Pomfrey bustling through the curtains around his bed and smiling warmly at him.

"If you hadn't woken by now, I was going to revive you myself."

"How…" Remus' voice was hoarse from disuse. He cleared his throat and wet his lips and tried again, "How long have I been here?"

"A week, dear." She answered softly, checking the basics and touching his bandages lightly, before handing him a goblet containing something orange. "Drink it. It'll make you feel better."

Remus drank it, having to let Pomfrey feed it to him – since he had been out cold for a week, he wasn't surprised that he had little use of his arms and legs. He pulled and face when he'd finished and commented on the taste. Pomfrey laughed, but looked like she wanted to cry, which startled him.

"What happened, Madam Pomfrey?" he asked warily, already starting to feel a little brighter by the second. The use of his limbs was coming back, he could feel it when he wiggled his fingers, but whatever was underneath the bandages felt…deep. It still throbbed relentlessly and made it uncomfortable to breathe. Madam Pomfrey shook her head and brushed his hair from his eyes gently, nodding her head towards Sirius beside him.

"Don't be too hard on him. He's come here every free minute he's had." she said softly and left his curtained area quickly, dabbing at her eyes. Remus frowned and glanced around at Sirius, who – he was vaguely surprised too see – had his eyes open and was watching Remus with red eyes, dark rings to match his own under them.

"Remus," he whispered, before clearing his throat and straightening up to stare at Remus, "You're awake."

"I am." Remus nodded.

"It's been a week."

"So I've heard."

Sirius blinked a few times before nodding in the direction the Madam Pomfrey had left, "Seems to have a soft spot for you, getting all teary eyed."

"She's always been like that with me." Remus shrugged, "Sirius, what happened last ni—last week? Why didn't you show up?"

Sirius visibly broke, his shoulders slumping, hands shaking as they grasped his robes tightly, eyes darting around Remus' face desperately.

"Remus, they—it's all my fault…I…you had to have a specialist healer brought in from St Mungos…you had a—_hic_—tear in your—_hic_—lung and you nearly—_hic_—died!"

Remus watched, startled, as Sirius dissolved into hiccups and sobs, collapsing on the bed again.

"Um, I…Sirius, calm down. It's not my fault I almost tore my own insides out."

Sirius calmed down immediately and lifted his head, eyes wide, "Yes it is. I told Snape where to find you. James had to stop him from getting too far down the tunnel and then Dumbledore came and brought us up to the office and made Snape swear not to tell, so we couldn't come down to stop you doing…doing _this_ to yourself."

Remus had to concentrate to catch every word and make sense of it and when Sirius stopped, he laughed softly. Sirius stared at him, thinking he'd gone mad.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" he asked fearfully.

"Yes," Remus smiled, "Honestly, Pads, it's not that big a big deal. Yeah, I'm pissed that you forced Prongs to put his own life in danger and that you weren't there. Last night was the worst transformation to date, Pads, and you let me down."

Sirius hung his head, ashamed, the calmness of Remus' voice making the scolding worse.

"You knew – I told you that that night was different." Remus went on, his voice becoming distant as he remembered, "I kept telling myself, _Sirius knows, he'll come_, but you didn't."

"Moony, please, stop." Sirius rasped. Remus looked down at him, having forgotten momentarily who he was talking to in the midst of the pain filled memory.

"I'm sorry. I'm not saying this to hurt you."

"No, you _should_. I deserve it – don't you understand what I did?"

"Of course." Remus answered placidly, "You tried to kill Snape."

"By using _you_!" Sirius cried, desperate to be punished now.

"But nothing happened."

"But I—"

"_No_, Pads. Like I said, I'm pissed about Prongs and that you weren't there, but what's done is done. Nothing happened, I didn't hurt anyone but myself, which happens all the time anyway. Do you regret trying to kill Snape? If it hadn't have involved me, would you stand by your actions?"

A dangerous, dark look flitted across Sirius' face that surprised Remus. The other boy considered it and then nodded solemnly.

"Yes. He deserves it. He was trying to get you thrown out of Hogwarts, Moony. I'll bet anything that he knew what that would have meant for you – no qualifications to offer an employer who might've taken you on, despite your furry little problem."

Remus burst out laughing and Sirius looked at him funny.

"Sorry," he chuckled, "But saying 'furry little problem' in such a serious conversation…sorry. Honestly, if you think what you did was right, then why apologise? No, forget that it was going to be me who hurt him – that _didn't happen_, so it doesn't matter. It's a moot point, I guess. Just leave it."

Sirius nodded reluctantly, "You're hurt because of me." He mumbled instead.

Remus nodded too, "Yes, maybe. But honestly? I think I would've gotten badly injured anyway – this full was different, remember? Maybe it was for the best. I could've hurt you, too."

"You're too good to me, Moony." Sirius sighed, his head resting back on his arms on the bed. Remus' hand automatically started to stroke his hair, letting the black strands flow softly between his fingers.

"I know." He murmured.

"Prongs and Wormtail are angry with me." Sirius said, his voice muffled, "And Dumbledore. And McGonagall."

"I'll bet they are."

Sirius didn't answer and Remus suspected he had fallen asleep and he wasn't far behind.


	9. Chapter 9

In just two days, Remus was allowed to go back to lessons, since the potions had taken their proper effects once he had awoken, he had healed well and was virtually back to normal. Sirius was, of course, overjoyed. Remus had spoken to James and Peter privately and they no longer hated him – and Snape hated him more than ever and carefully kept his distance – so all was good.

Until Remus got a girlfriend.

Sirius found out the worst way possible. He had been walking through the library, minding his own damn business and looking for Remus to give him the rest of the notes he had missed while he was in the hospital wing and had walked straight into a scene from what had recently become his worst nightmare.

Moony – _his fucking Moonpie_ – with some _slut_ (who Sirius recognised as Julie, the girl who Lily usually sat with during potions lessons), sitting on his lap, her hands in his gorgeous hair and _kissing_ him. Sirius swore he saw tongues.

Once he had gotten over the shock of it, he stormed up to them, slammed down the pile of notes that he had stacked and sorted so _meticulously_ just because Remus liked it that way and scowled at the pair of them.

"Your _notes_, Lupin." He snapped at a surprised Remus and an indignant Julie, before turning on his heel and stalking back out of the library. Sirius sort of hoped that Remus would come after him, like he usually did when he was in one of his moods, but with an attractive girl like Julie sat on him like that, there was no chance. He huffed to himself, shoving a second year out of his way as he made for the staircase on his right – he had planned to sit with Remus for a while in the library before lunch started, but now that plan had gone out of the window and he had nothing else to do but head up to the shop early.

Once he had walked past it three times, thinking hard of Wolf Wares, Sirius entered the Room of Requirement and dropped his bag behind the counter unceremoniously and tapped the till with his wand to unlock it before waving it again to lift the shutters over the shelves. He looked around the small room, at the shelves of mysteriously packaged items and tables set up for sampling and sighed.

"Potter, that you?"

Sirius stiffened and lifted aimed his wand at the door to the stock room, waiting. The door swung open and a pile of boxes floated through, followed by none other than Sweetie. Sirius stared at the blonde boy, lowering his wand.

"Oh, it's you." Sweetie said distastefully, letting the boxes down on the floor. He turned to prop his hip against the counter, his eyes narrowed. Sirius felt his temper flare.

"What do mean, it's me? It's _my_ shop. What're you doing here, Sweetie?" he demanded.

"Dropping off some extra stuff." Sweetie shrugged, gesturing down at the boxes, "Potter got me in. Sure is useful knowing so many secret ways into the castle. Makes it easier to come and see Remus."

"I don't think that arrangement will be continuing for much longer." Sirius sneered, more vehemently than he had intended, "There's a girl involved now, who I don't think would be very happy about _you_."

"Who says this girl has to know?" Sweetie smirked sickeningly, winking. Sirius scowled and Sweetie's smile grew wider, "But of course, you want me out of the picture, don't you? One less contender to deal with, eh?"

"I don't know what you're on about." Sirius mumbled.

"Of course you do." the other boy murmured, stepping forwards, "I saw your face when you walked in on us that first night. I know you want him. It's not my problem you're too much of a coward to just go for it."

"You're not good enough for him." Sirius scorned. Sweetie took another step forward to trail a finger down his chest. Sirius grimaced and stepped away quickly.

"I might consider backing off in exchange for a night with you, Black." Sweetie drawled.

"You'll back off in exchange for a beating." Sirius barked, just as the door opened and Remus entered, slightly breathless as he met Sirius' guilty gaze.

"There you are, Pads! I was worried, I've been looking for you everywhere, why did you…Sweetie?" Remus frowned, approaching the counter. Sirius had been feeling all warm and fuzzy when Remus had called him 'Pads' with that Moony concern of his – until he had clocked Sweetie.

"Hey, Rem!" Sweetie chirped, "Potter let me in to drop of this stuff."

"Oh, right." Remus blinked, his eyes flitting to Sweetie's hand clenched around Sirius' robes. Sirius took a hasty step back and coughed awkwardly. Sweetie gave Remus a sideways grin.

"You want me back here tonight, babe?"

Sirius almost gagged at the endearment and fully expected Remus to tell Sweetie that he had found a girl he liked, so they wouldn't be seeing each other like that anymore. But, as cruel fate would have it, Remus glanced at Sirius for a moment, before resting a hand on the counter and reaching out to cup Sweetie's chin with the other and bring him forward, over the counter, and plant a kiss on his lips that seemed to go on forever. When Remus finally released him, Sweetie leant his elbows on the counter with a somewhat dazed and dreamy smile (Sirius would have given anything to see what Remus could do to create that expression), as he gazed up at Remus, who grinned back.

"I'll take that as a yes, then." Sweetie leered, stepping around the counter and making his way to the door, pausing to throw a wink to Sirius behind Remus' back before he left.

"So?" Remus asked, wiping his mouth as he dropped his bag over the back of the counter and leaned forward inquisitively, "What's wrong? Why did you storm off like that in the library?"

Sirius shrugged sheepishly, tracing invisible patterns on the wood, "I dunno, I saw you with that girl and…" He looked up to find Remus watching him closely, intently, and at that intense stare, Sirius looked away again and continued, "I'd just gotten a detention in Divination and I was pissed off, so I took it out on you, sorry."

Remus sighed and dropped his stare, ruffling his hands through his hair in the exact way Sirius wanted to do with his own hands.

"Sooo," Sirius said nonchalantly, "Julie…that serious?"

Remus shrugged, resting his cheek on his palm and looking up at Sirius, "Yeah, I guess. I like her."

"Right." Sirius said slowly around the lump that had formed in his throat, "When did this happen? How come you didn't tell us?" _How come you didn't tell _me_?_

"Couple of days ago, when I came out of the hospital wing." Remus smiled, "Said she'd noticed I was gone and was concerned. One thing led to another…"

"You shagged her yet?" Sirius asked, more harshly than he had intended. Remus gave him a sharp look and didn't answer. Sirius changed tactics, "Why are you still seeing Sweetie, then?"

"Fun. Not like I'm getting any from who I really like, so why not?" Remus replied, looking Sirius in the eye. Sirius nodded, stifling a nervous gulp and gestured to the stock Sweetie had left.

"We should probably unpack these and—"

"What's _really_ your problem, Black?" Remus demanded suddenly, around the counter and in Sirius' face in a flash. Sirius balked at the use of his surname.

"I don't have a problem." He insisted, but Remus' expression darkened further. Sirius scowled and drew himself up. "Maybe I have a problem with your _contact_."

"Oh, really?" Remus asked in a soft voice that made Sirius take a step backwards, "James mentioned this to me. He seems to think you have a problem with me doing other boys."

_Exactly, doing_ other_ boys, _Sirius' brain provided unhelpfully. Remus stopped the distracting train of thought by shoving him back against the wall roughly. "If you've got a problem, tell _me_, Black. Not anyone else, not James, _me_."

Sirius snarled, enraged that Remus would ever think he was biased against him and twisted from under his grip, pushing him against the wall instead, pinning his arms and leaning close to hiss, "I don't have a problem with boys, _Lupin_."

Sirius wasn't sure what he had planned to say next – all he knew was that he was suddenly leaning very close to Remus' face, who was glaring across at him with incense in those delicious amber-tinted eyes and breathing heavily, his heaving chest brushing Sirius' with every intake of air. All it would take was for Sirius to close the hairs-breadth of a gap and touch his lips to—

"There you are, me and Wormtail have been looking…are you two okay?"

Sirius turned quickly to see James and Peter standing in the doorway, staring at him and Remus uncertainly. Sirius stepped away briskly, dropping Remus' arms.

"Just a little disagreement." Remus answered smoothly, without even a glance in Sirius' direction as he took his place on the stool at the counter, "Right, Sirius?"

"Right. Disagreement." Sirius muttered, wiping a hand over his face and avoiding the others' stares. James clapped his hands together and tapped the door with his wand, making the shop visible to those who were subscribed to their services and announced them open for another lunch time.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, everyone here knows what we sell, you don't need to creep around. _The marijuana's over there_. Fucking fifth years."

Remus' acerbic tones cut through the quiet atmosphere in the shop halfway through lunch, making a spotty fifth year jump and hurry to the corner to which the irritable shop keep had pointed. James glared across the room at Remus from where he was helping customers sample Dragon's Gin. Sirius glanced over from the condom stand where a girl was asking his advice.

"Which ones would you prefer?" the short blonde seventh year was asking, "Lubricated or ribbed?"

Sirius was too busy watching Remus to pay attention; the other boy was between transactions, so had time to shrug his robes off and pull his jumper over his head, which made his shirt hitch up and reveal a slither of tanned skin for a moment. After tossing his jumper and robes by his bag in the corner, Remus just fucking_ happened_ to look up and catch Sirius staring with his mouth open – he would have bet anything that he had a string of drool hanging from the corner – and cracked small smile, almost apologetically.

But Sirius didn't take the bait – Remus had been convinced that he had a problem with him and just went around telling everyone but Remus himself. If he thought that lowly of Sirius, well, he could just come and lick his boots personally. He wasn't going to fall for any of his crooked grins or two fingered salutes. When Sirius looked away pointedly, he saw Remus scowl from his peripheral and bend his head to start picking at his nails, his fringe falling across his eyes.

"Sorry, what?" Sirius asked the pretty blonde politely, who fluttered her lashes at him.

"I asked, the ribbed or the lubed?"

Sirius glanced down at the condoms in her hand and furrowed his brows, "Neither. There are lube charms that do the trick better and the ribbed ones make your dick feel weird."

The girl sighed, "Then which ones?"

Sirius was about to answer, when James caught his attention over her shoulder. He was pointing at her meaningfully, making a love heart with his fingers and then pointing at Sirius. Getting the drift, Sirius smiled charmingly down at her. This would show Lupin. He wasn't so hooked that he couldn't score a decent date. Not that Remus knew about his embarrassing infatuation. He hoped not. Merlin's hairy third nipple, he hoped not.

"Well, sweetheart, I'd go for the chocolate flavoured ones. Fancy trying one out later?"

"Prick!" the girl shrieked and Sirius' cheek stung from a slap he hadn't seen coming and didn't find at all fair; she'd been flirting, right? Okay, maybe suggesting a blowjob as a first date hadn't been the way to go about it, but having Remus right across the room blowing bubbles with that pink gum that let you spell out words was just downright distracting. Especially when the words _sex god_ were floating innocently around his head. Sirius looked around, rubbing his sore face that was probably a throbbing red by now, ignoring the laughs from the other customers and James – the traitor – to see the girl now _flirting_ with Remus over the till (who was flirting right back, the common whore), whilst purchasing the condoms _Sirius_ had suggested.

The cheek of it.

Sirius slunk over to James, who was looking a little dopey as one usually did when they landed the samples shift, where the customers tried out their range of legal highs. At the moment, he was showing three seventh year boys their range of Veela's Breath, small pots that expelled wafts of arousal, ranging from 'Semi-Ready' to 'Raging and Rearing to Go'. He sat next to his best friend and narrowed his eyes over at Moony, who was making the blonde girl laugh.

"Saw you get shot down, man," James drawled, his eyelids drooping, "Sorry 'bout that?"

"Nah," Sirius shrugged, "I deserved it. Did you see Moony flirting with her, though?"

"Mad he stole your girl?"

"No," Sirius sighed impatiently, growing tired quickly of dealing with a high James, "I mean, he's been acting strange lately. First we find out about that Robin guy, then there's the whole affair with Sweetie, then I find him making out with Julie in the library and _now_ he's coming on to busty seventh year Hufflepuffs—"

"Whoa!" James stuttered, holding up his hands dramatically and making the boys at the table opposite them laugh drowsily, "Hold the phone! When did Moonpie hook up with Julie?"

Sirius cocked a sceptically amused brow, "Do you even know what a phone is?"

"Heard Lily say it once. Do you?"

"No." Sirius admitted, trying not to notice the way James had called the redhead Lily instead of Evans – something that was becoming common after the Snape Incident. They had found out that Evans had known about Remus' furry little problem and she had found out that they knew when she had come to Sirius to rant about endangering Snivellus' life or something and James had stepped up to tell her that he had controlled the situation. Ever since they had been speaking more cordially, with first names (mostly) instead of surnames and there was a lot less hexing involved. Sirius tried to pretend the change didn't make him feel insecure, half certain that nothing would happen between them.

"Wait, wait, forget that! When did Moony and Julie get together?" James persisted.

"Coupla days ago apparently." Sirius shrugged. James giggled.

"Our little Remus is growing up. Turnin' into a playa, that'un."

"Mmm." Sirius hummed miserably as he watched Remus finally send the blonde girl off with one of his two fingered salutes. Maybe it was a good thing he hadn't gotten a date with the girl; the last time he was with one he had ended up imagining one of his best friend's tight arses.


	10. Chapter 10

"Guess what, lads?"

Sirius, Remus, Peter, Frank, Gideon and Fabian all turned to look at James tiredly – it had been the worst day of the week for the sixth year Gryffindors, in which they had to suffer through double transfiguration, double potions and double charms. With their Fridays so stacked full of doubles hell, the boys' usual routine was to laze around after dinner, feeling sorry for themselves and hoping to heal before the weekend, especially if a Hogsmead trip was in store.

Sirius was hanging upside down from the edge of his bed, reading Quidditch Weekly. Frank was throwing pieces of chocolate into the air while Gideon exploded them with his wand, Remus lying beneath and trying to catch the pieces in his mouth. Peter and Fabian watched whilst trying to write a late essay for McGonagall to be handed in before Saturday lunch.

"If you've come up with another way to make Snape turn into a llama using some kind of food at dinner and want to go bribe the House Elves with sugar quills to let us see their ingredients for tomorrow night, I've got better things to do." Remus remarked drily, pumping a fist in the air when he caught a mouthful of chocolate.

"Better than a llama Snivellus?" Sirius asked sceptically.

"If you count sewing patches onto the elbows of my jumpers as better, then yes."

"And you do?"

Remus laughed, making Sirius' stomach squirm pleasantly. _No_, he thought determinedly, _I will get over this ridiculous crush. Remus is obviously never going to drop any of his _millions_ of bloody concubines to even _glance_ at me_.

"_Nooooo_!" James whined, waving his arms around. They all looked back at him and noticed he was waving around handfuls of galleons.

"I said _no_, Prongs," Sirius grinned, "it doesn't matter how much you pay me, I am _not_ shagging you."

"Oh fuck off you queer." James said cheerily, spilling the money into a fair sized sack on top of a stack of papers, "No, we've finally done it! It took us just under a year, but we've finally made enough to get those mirrors!"

"Are you serious?" Peter asked excitedly, looking up from his parchment. Before Sirius could reply with the usual painful pun, James had jumped up to drag him off his bed. Sirius yelped as his head his the floor with a dull _thud_ and James went on to yank him around the dorm floor in a merry, rather one-sided, jig.

"What mirrors?" Frank. Gideon pulled a face.

"Probably best not to ask so we can truthfully say we don't know anything when McGonagall asks why Snape's a llama again." He said matter-of-factly.

"How many can we afford?" Remus asked from his bed, retrieving what was left of his bar of chocolate and stuffing it in his mouth.

"Two," James grinned, dropping Sirius brusquely, who _hmphed_ and sat up, rubbing the back of his head, "like we agreed, since Peter said he'd break one if he had one. You sure you don't want one, Moony?"

"And get caught with it in my pocket and risk my good guy prefect status? I'm good, thanks. We can just pair up with you or Pads."

Sirius brightened at the thought of carrying out a prank with only Remus as his partner in crime. James glanced down at him and smirked, "Yeah, _Pads_, we could pair up. You'd like that, right?"

Sirius blinked stupidly at his best friend, who looked away and announced that they were going to throw a celebratory party in the common room. James didn't know, did he? He _couldn't_. Sirius would _die_. Horrifically.

Whilst he was contemplating his possibly messy death of humiliation, Remus grasped his arm to pull him up, saying that they needed to go help Prongs get everything ready. He pulled away abruptly, like he had been burned – a habit he had acquired when the other boy so much as brushed against him. Remus gave Sirius a hurt frown, who looked away as though he hadn't seen the painful expression and bounded over to James, grabbing his arm and pulling him down to the common room, the others following.

"Right!" he said jovially in the midst of wary students who glanced at the four Marauders and edged away slowly, assuming they were plotting their next prank, his grin slightly forced, "Moony, Wormtail, you two go down to the kitchens and—"

"No." James said firmly, stepping up and giving Sirius a meaningful look he didn't want to read too much into, "I'll go to the kitchens with Wormtail. The elves love him, eats all of their leftovers the greedy sod."

"Gee, thanks." Peter muttered and was ignored.

"You and Moony can go to Hogsmead and get the alcohol we don't stock here. We're pretty low anyway, so we'll get the rest from the Room of Requirement and empty our stock. And," he lowered his voice so only Sirius could make out his words, "You need to grow a pair and sort this shit out with Remus."

"But—" Sirius started, but James cut him off with a sharp thwack upside the head. Remus looked on sourly, arms folded and hips cocked.

"Oh, I'm sure it would be better for me to go with Wormtail." he sneered, "Wouldn't want Black alone with a fairy."

"You like girls, too." James waved him off cheerfully and shoved the invisibility cloak at him, while Sirius mulled despondently on the reuse of his surname again. He wondered if he should just give in to Moony's charms and give up on his plan to get over him, since they got on a lot better when he did, "Come on, Wormy, let's go. Oi! Spinnet! Spread the word, the Marauders are throwing a Tower-wide party!"

Andy Spinnet grinned and gave James a thumbs up, before he disappeared swiftly through the portrait hole, pulling the Map from his robes, Peter stumbling after him eagerly.

"Come on, then, Black. I need a drink." Remus muttered gruffly, striding away through the portrait hole. Sirius sighed heavily and went after him. The werewolf stormed down to the one-eyed witch near their Darks Arts classroom without bothering to don the cloak and tapped the statue with an irritated, "Dissendium."

They were halfway down the passageway, silent in the darkness, when Remus turned suddenly and shoved Sirius – _hard _ – against the rough wall behind him and before he could react, before he could even consider a guess towards what in Grindlewald's name the other boy was doing, lips were on his. Rough and hot. Angry and sweet. So, _so_, right…

Sirius' eyes fluttered open just as his hands were inching up to tangle in Remus' hair. _Shit_, he thought in a panic, _oh fucking shit_, and pushed him away, panting heavily after the seemingly random attack.

"Sirius," Remus said, his voice low with _that husk_ that made Sirius to want to…argh! Why couldn't he drag his eyes away from the recently-snogged, swollen redness of Remus' lips?

"No," Sirius shook his head, voice coming out hoarse, so he tried again, more forcefully this time. His voice echoed around the passageway as he snarled, "_No_. I am not one of your…one of your fucking gullible girlfriends or pretty boys, you don't just get to _do_ that to everyone when you just fucking fancy it."

"Sirius—"

But Sirius had already scooped up the discarded cloak, tucked it into his pocket and continued down the passage. Remus followed silently, not daring to come near Sirius the whole way into Hogsmead, who desperately tried and failed to ignore the way his lips tingled and ached. Remus, Moony, _his_ Moony, had kissed him – _kissed him_ – for reasons he had no access to unless he turned around and asked him as they shrunk the crates of alcohol, left money on Rosmerta's counter (an arrangement between the boys and the pub owner that left both parties happy), and turned around to leave, which was so far out of the question it was in Japan, eating rice and sushi with chopsticks.

They snuck back through the castle to the Tower, ducking reluctantly close to each other under the cloak when they heard Filch muttering to Mrs Norris on the seventh floor. Their entrance through the portrait hole was two things – a huge relief and one accompanied by a triumphant roar. Sirius grinned, pushing the last half hour from his head and restoring the crates they had bagged, holding them up victoriously to more cheers.

Sirius wasn't having much luck on the whole _don't-think-about-that-bloody-kiss-gods-it-was-goo d-had-no-idea-he-could-kiss-like-that-why-haven't- we-been-doing-that-since-forever _matter and things weren't exactly looking up. Well, he supposed if _up_ referred to certain appendages, then things were definitely _up_. By way of his luck, however, the universe seemed to be taunting him with every bloody ounce of its universey self.

The party was in full swing, the younger students had been scared off to bed by drunken prefects and there were Gryffindors in various states of undress prancing and dancing around the common room. All of the sixth years had taken place by the fire for a game of strip poker Evans taught them, even the seventh years bowing down and making way for the boys who had provided them with alcohol, music and tipsy girls, allowing them the best space in the room.

James kept declaring how much he loved the new card game, probably because of the absence of Evan's shirt, having lost his own and his trousers, too. Sirius, missing a sleeve and the pocket on his shirt for some reason, tried to be pleased that so many fit girls from their year were currently sitting around him missing shirts and skirts, but all he could keep stressing about was that Remus had yet to lose more than his jumper, tie, his shoes and one of his socks. And how he could get drunk enough to get Moony to kiss him again – why had he been so _stupid_ as to stop him when it been so…well, when it had been _so_.

Once strip poker had been forgotten after a few more bottles of firewhiskey, they had been happily singing along to a Celestina Warbeck classic ballad blasting from the enhanced wireless, when two House Elves had appeared with a chocolate fountain and strawberries to tumultuous applause, arranged by none other than Peter.

Remus, who was sitting across the circle from Sirius and beside Julie, had just finished a strawberry. Being the maniacal chocolate lover he was, Moony was methodically _sucking_ on his own fingers. Sirius tried not to appear as though he was staring as Remus' tongue darted out and _licked_ the escaped drizzled from between his fingers and thoroughly nosedived in the effort of _not_ drooling. If Moony didn't stop doing that with his tongue…

"More chocolate." Remus said distractedly, standing and making off towards the last place the fountain had been spotted. Sirius released a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding and took a long gulp of firewhiskey from his bottle. Remus hadn't spoken to him since the passageway, but Sirius had _felt_ him the whole time, his eyes drawn to the other boy with every movement, every word. He wondered whether if he had let Remus kiss him for a while, the whole thing might have been flushed from his system – Sirius doubted it, but it could have been an excuse. Except his mind telling him that he was just going to be another of Remus' almost neurotic collection of ventures kept him from acting on anything rash.

"Lose your shirt, Moon boy?" James asked jovially, not taking his eyes off of Evans (which really perplexed Sirius as to how he had noticed the absence of Remus' shirt). Sirius looked up and choked on his whiskey. Gideon clapped him on the back rather unhelpfully and Sirius glanced up again, watery-eyed, to peek at Remus wearing that gorgeous wife beater. Remus grinned tipsily as he sat down again, Julie clinging to him the instant his arse touched the floor.

"Some girl wanted it to wear as a cape." He shrugged, throwing Sirius a rather roguish grin – the first glance he had spared for Sirius – and one that sent his libido into overdrive and every intention to stay away from his friend flying out the window and splatting on the ground beneath the Tower. Taking a deep, calming breath, Sirius downed the remainder of his firewhiskey and pushed himself up onto the sofa, leaning back and closing his eyes. If Remus kept this up, he was never going to last the night.

**A/N:** Just a couple more chapters to go! Just wondering, would anyone like a sequel? I loved writing this story and a sequel would be filled with more random plot bunnies and characters like our dear Sweetie - if so, R&R and mention it in the review ^-^


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** All characters and such created by JK Rowling and co., even if I wish it were me

**A/N: **One more chapter to go!

**Part Eleven**

"Sirius."

Sirius opened his eyes to his Evans sitting on the sofa beside him, her shirt draped over her shoulders and doing nothing to cover her bra. James was still staring from by the fire.

"Yeah?" he grunted, fixing his eyes on her to prevent them from wandering over to Remus, who was sprawled on the floor now, Julie tracing patterns over his scars and giggling in a way that made Sirius want to tear his hair out, transfigure it into a machete and throw it at her head.

"I know."

"What?"

"I _know_ about your thing for Remus. Worked it out." She added proudly.

Sirius froze, staring at her in fear, before flicking his gaze around to check that no one else was listening in, before turning and demanding, "WHAT," when he probably would have denied it had he not just finished his fifth bottle of firewhiskey only a moment before.

"I know you like him." She whispered with a smile and a pat on the shoulder that was missing a shirt sleeve that was currently burning in the common room fire. Sirius could only open and close his mouth in a genius impression of a goldfish, making Evans laugh. "And I think you should tell him."

"What? _No_! He'll think I'm a pervert, that his own best friend has been—"

"Trust me, it'll be _fine_."

"Says the girl who can't even admit she likes the guy who's been chasing her for, like, ever!" Sirius protested throwing his hands up to prove his point. Evans narrowed her make-up smudged eyes at him and got to her feet determinedly. Sirius watched in shock and a certain amount of admiration as she approached James, yanked him to his feet and flung herself at him in an enthusiastic kiss.

James, in his defence, only stood still in shock in her arms for about half a minute, before clutching her closer and kissing her eagerly to catcalls and wolf whistles from onlookers. Sirius gave a low whistle, before grabbing another bottle and downing the contents in one go. Courage considerably heightened, he looked up to catch Remus' eyes sliding from James and Evans to _him_, the smile disappearing to be replaced with uncertainty.

Sirius took a deep breath and stood at the same time as Remus and followed him into a deserted corner. Remus leant back against the wall, frowning slightly. Sirius wanted to reach out and smooth the crease between his brows, but tucked his hands into his pockets instead, looking down, his Dutch courage suddenly vanished.

"Sirius, about earlier," Remus was saying, but Sirius was finding it hard to pay much attention, instead fixated on the way Remus' stomach moved when he sighed heavily in that older-than-his-age way he had, "I don't know why I…what I mean is, I'd like for us to go back to normal. Ever since I said about that _thing_ with Robin, you've been acting all—"

"IthinkImightbeinlovewithyou."

Remus blinked and, for a moment, Sirius hoped the garbled mess had been misheard. After all, he hadn't even admitted that to himself yet – he had known he _liked_ Remus, but love? Was that what it was? Maybe it was, judging by how right it felt when the words spilt from between his lips uncharacteristically clumsily. For an awful moment, Remus just stared at him in silence, his face blank.

Sirius was about to run away and bury his head in the nearest pile of sand available when Remus grabbed his arm firmly and pulled him out of the common room and down the corridor a few feet to push him into an alcove.

"Going to take advantage of me again?" Sirius asked defensively, trying to glare across at the other boy whilst his heart was attempting to beat out of his chest. Remus stepped forward, closing the gap between them in the small space.

"Never," he answered quietly, "I just want to kiss you again."

Sirius mouthed wordlessly, the action seeming to be his most favoured that night and settled with simply admitting, "I don't understand."

"Shut up, Pads." Remus smiled and all it took was for him to call Sirius that short, sweet pet name and he was gone, leaning in and brushing their lips together softly. This kiss was so different to the other one; tender and chaste, a barely there point of contact that made Sirius' toes curl as he kissed Remus. _Yes_, was all his heart could flutter in earnest.

When they broke apart, Sirius grinned at Remus' silly smile, at his single sock and tasselled hair. Remus grinned back crookedly. Sirius went to reach for him again but pulled back as a girl's voice called Remus' name from the direction of the Fat Lady. Remus pushed him further back into the shadows and pressed close against him, waiting until the calling stopped. Sirius didn't have to try to stay calm this close to Remus, given who the voice belonged to.

"Aren't you going to go to her?" Sirius asked sullenly, pushing Remus away, more gently than he had last time. Their sweet kiss was still dancing in his mind, not allowing him to say goodbye just yet.

"Julie?" Remus asked in surprise, "No. I don't like her. She was after you the whole time anyway."

Sirius lifted his eyebrows to show he didn't believe the story.

"Honesty," Remus nodded, moving forward again and pressing his hands on the wall either side of Sirius, "She just used me."

"Well her flirting was shit," Sirius gasped as Remus bent his head to lay a trail of feather light kisses along his jaw, "I didn't notice anything."

"That's because you were too busy watching me."

Sirius ignored that and tried to concentrate on the conversation, pulling away and looking at his friend uncertainly, "You knew I liked you."

"Yes." Remus shrugged, even though it hadn't been a question, "Since the day you told Lily you liked someone. The way she reacted to something I said helped me to work it out."

"Yet you still carried on with Sweetie and Julie and whoever else," Sirius accused, suddenly feeling too drunk for this discussion and wishing he could melt into the wall and disappear. Which would be cool if he could scare other students trying to make out there with creepy sounds.

"Robin Harrison told me that seeing other people would catch your attention." Remus shrugged again, this time smiling like butter wouldn't melt. Sirius scowled at the name.

"That guy you told us about at the Prewetts' party." He clarified distastefully.

"Well I only thought it apt as it was him who had suggested the idea."

"He only wanted to get into your pants!"

"He did and his idea worked, didn't it? Worked out well on both sides."

Sirius looked away, not certain of how to continue. Remus waited patiently, the faux gentleman he was, allowing him to pick his next question.

"Do you…err…do you like me?"

Remus gave him an amused smile, like Sirius was a slow child who needed everything explained to him at a flobberworm's pace.

"Only for about three years."

Sirius choked at that, "_Three_? Three years?" he paused, contemplating this, "What took me so long to catch up?"

Remus laughed. And laughed and laughed and laughed until Sirius joined in, the absurdity of the both of them infectious. Eventually, they calmed down and Remus stepped forward for the millionth time that night and this time Sirius let him.

"I remembered, by the way." He murmured in his ear.

"What?" Sirius mumbled distractedly, trying to twist his head to get to Remus' mouth.

"The night of the Prewetts' party. I remember the kiss. I always did."

Sirius stared at him before hitting him lightly on the chest with a dizzy laugh, "You remembered all this time?"

"How could I forget Sirius Black getting hard just because I kissed him?" Remus asked insolently and leaned in to kiss him again. This kiss wasn't rough and angry, or sweet and barely there. This kiss was thorough and full of a slow, burning promise that electrified Sirius' body and sent shocks through him, making his nails dig into Remus' back when his tongue stroked his own, or he sucked his lip into his mouth and bit down lightly. When they pulled apart, Sirius looked down pointedly.

"I'm not the only one who gets hard over just kissing."

Remus just laughed and pulled him closer for another breath-stealing kiss, grabbing Sirius' hips and pressing against him, letting Sirius feel _just_ how hard he was after a kiss. Sirius heard a small whine and realised with dismay that it had come from him. Remus pulled back, his bright, amber eyes burning into Sirius' grey ones.

"Dorm?" he asked in that low, husky voice.

"Dorm." Sirius agreed breathlessly.

**A/N2: **So our pups are finally together ^-^ aren't you so happy? Just one more chapter to go :) R&R! I see you readers who aren't reviewing - would it help if I told you I have the puppies locked in a room as a reward for anyone who reviews? Muahahahaha *evil grin*


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **last chapter! A heartfelt cheers to all who have read and reviewed! You've all made me feel so warm and smiley inside with your kind words 3 Also, I'm not sure if I can reply to reviews on here, so I'll just add – as a note, of course…inspired by a certain review by a certain _hato-ryou-chan,_ sshh ;) – the boys are at a secret locations *passes note with address over* ready for visitors. Moving on…enjoy!

**Part Twelve**

The dorm was empty, their other roommates still at the party downstairs, which was lucky since if their friends had been there they would have had to witness Sirius pushing Remus through the door, lips already seeking the other's, hands pulling and pushing desperately. Remus was backed up against his bed, so Sirius gave him a playful shove and crawled on top when he sprawled back onto the covers.

"Someone's eager." Remus laughed, pulling Sirius' hair for a kiss. Sirius obliged and grinned back, unable to control how unbelievably happy he was that his friend wasn't disgusted with his infatuation and how he had felt the _same bloody way_ for years – that was what really got him, the years part. Made his heart do joyous backflips.

"You have no idea how hard it was knowing you were with two people who weren't me." Sirius admitted, leaning down to nip Remus' collarbone and trying to memorise the taste of his Moony's skin. Remus crooked a finger beneath his chin and lifted his head gently. A shiver whispered through Sirius at the sight of the gentle smile that Remus so rarely gave anyone, all sarcasm and dry wit gone from his sincere gaze.

"No one, ever again," Remus promised sincerely, before hesitating, "if you'll have me."

"Have you?" Sirius laughed incredulously, "When I'm lying all over you like this? Never!"

"Shut up, you pureblood mutt." Remus grinned.

"Halfblood werewolf."

"Pads…"

"_Moony_."

There was a flurry of movement and Remus ended up pinning Sirius to the bed, his hands held above his head. Sirius felt a flush heat his face at the hungry look in the other boy's eyes. Remus bent his head and began kissing and biting his way down his neck, deft fingers undoing what was left of his shirt and Sirius felt suddenly – dizzyingly – sober, but somehow more drunk than he had ever been. He closed his eyes, abandoning all attempts at coherent thought as his Moony popped his trousers open as though by magic (even though he knew full well his wand was somewhere in his other sock down in the common room), and kneading fingers joined relentless lips on his thighs.

Sirius moaned, a shamefully loud, needy sound. Remus picked his head up and Sirius opened his eyes to see him hooking his thumbs under the waist band of his boxers with a mischievous smile. Sirus had no time to prepare himself – there was no teasing or that first time anticipation. Remus simply yanked his boxers down and dove down on him, taking him into his mouth and giving a hungry _suck_.

"Oh, oh _shit_." Sirius gasped, his head falling back onto the pillows, his eyes closing. Remus worked magic that he never knew the boy could have been capable of. At one point, Sirius _had_ to open his eyes and look – which very nearly sent him over the edge, clutching at the bedclothes and making a strangled kind of yelp. Remus pulled off of him, leaving him wanting, _needing_, more. Sirius looked down at him hazily, staring at Moony's mouth.

"Have you ever…?" Remus asked with that strange hesitation Sirius wasn't used to seeing.

"Hmm?" Sirius asked, lifting his hips slightly, unable to ignore his forgotten hard on. Remus slid up his body to kiss him on the forehead softly, the gentleness of the gesture completely contradicting the hungry way he had seen to Sirius a little further south.

"Ever fucked a guy?"

"Oh," Sirius flushed, something he couldn't seem to do enough of in front of Remus, "Err, no."

"Okay, let me phrase it another way. Ever been fucked _by_ a guy?"

"No!"

Remus lifted his brows at Sirius' indignant reply and leaned down to kiss him, hard and slow, making him unravel and slide his arms around the warm body pressed against him, trying to pull him down even further than was possible.

"You shouldn't be so against the idea," Remus murmured in his ear, "I don't bottom, but don't worry. I'll make you want it."

Sirius felt his hands slide underneath him and grasp both of his arse cheeks, pulling them apart roughly. A surprised gasp was ripped from Sirius lungs, followed by a heady groan as the memory of Remus' sweat beaded, tensing back muscles flashed before his eyes, almost settling the deal.

"But not tonight." Remus smiled, pulling back a little, "I don't have enough patience at the moment to be gentle."

Sirius was actually disappointed, but quickly forgot when Remus' mouth descended again, capturing his dismayed disapproval with nipping teeth and fighting tongues. Sirius grunted and pushed Remus off roughly. Moony frowned, confused.

"Clothes," Sirius panted, reaching for him, "Wearing too many clothes."

Remus laughed and batted Sirius' fumbling hands away to unbutton his trousers and pushed them off along with his boxers. Sirius found himself in a trance as he stared down at Remus. _That_ was supposed to fit in _there_? Merlin on stilts…

"Your vest." Sirius urged, tearing his eyes away from Remus' crotch and tugging at the hem of his wife beater. Remus hesitated again and searched Sirius' face for a moment before reaching down and lifting it over his head.

"Moony," he whispered, staring. Across Remus' chest and abdomen was a long, jagged and angry looking welt, raised and seeming to glow slightly in the midst of all the other scars. Sirius lifted a hand and ran a finger down the length of the barely healed laceration. Remus shivered lightly at the touch as Sirius felt, to his embarrassment, his eyes begin to well up.

"I'm so sorry." He mumbled into Remus' shoulder, screwing his eyes tight shut.

"Don't." Remus said softly, pressing his lips to Sirius hair before lifting his chin to look into his eyes, "Don't."

Sirius could only shake his head, his words swallowed by Remus' mouth on his. This kiss was slow and deep, persistent in making Sirius forget. Hips began to rock against his, tentative and almost absent minded, but making Sirus groan and knot his fingers in Remus' soft, curly hair, pulling slightly as he felt Remus rub against him, hard as a rock.

"Need you." Sirius mumbled, rolling and pushing Remus down onto the bed instead, rolling his hips. Remus gave a satisfying gasp and closed his eyes,  
grabbing Sirius' hips. Sirius took this as a go ahead and thrust down again, grunting in approval when Remus wrapped his legs around his waists.

"Never a bottom, huh?" Sirius smirked breathlessly. Remus only moaned as they fell into a rhythm, Sirius thrusting down with Moony meeting him halfway, lifting his hips up off the bed in a delicious sensation of sweat slicked skin and clinging hands. He was close, so close, dizzyingly close, and only hoped Remus was, too, because he wasn't going to be able to hold out for much longer. There was no danger, though. Remus yanked him down into a hard kiss and breathed, "Feel so good…I'm gonna…" and Sirius was undone.

"Remus, Remus, Remus," Sirius repeated hoarsely, thrusting down against Remus once more and letting go with a stuttering moan. He buried his face in Remus' neck and shuddered at the over stimulation as the other boy rocked up against him a few more times before clinging to him and kissing Sirius' ear.

They lay there, sticky warmth slick between their stomachs and chests, breaths heavy, hearts pounding. After what felt like forever of simply enjoying feeling skin on skin, Sirius rolled off of Remus with long, drawn out and exaggerated sigh, a silly grin stretching from ear to ear.

"Best ever." He beamed, looking over at Remus, who was watching him with an even – if possible - wider than Sirius'. Moony, finally and really _his_ Moony, rolled onto his side and curled up close to him, nuzzling into his neck and humming in agreement. "No girl could _ever_suck a cock like that."

Remus burst out laughing, shaking against Sirus, who chuckled, too and turned to face him, throwing a leg and arm across him.

"So…" Sirius said slowly, running a finger over the white scars on his hip, "Now what?"

"What do you want?" Remus asked, amber eyes starting to fade to soft brown. Sirius wasn't completely used to this vulnerable and uncertain side of the werewolf – it wasn't a side he showed to most people and one Sirius quickly decided he found endearing.

"I want to wake up in your bed tomorrow morning," he answered, watching Remus' smile reappear, "and every morning after."

"You old romantic, you." Remus snorted, shaking his head. Sirius shifted forwards to kiss him again.

"No more Sweetie or Julie. Or anyone else." Sirius added as an afterthought. Remus just shook his head, his eyes fluttering closed. Sirius took the opportunity to count the freckles across his nose, naming each one fondly.

"Stop staring at me." Remus mumbled, making Sirius jump guiltily and grin. He ran his eyes over his body instead, unable to believe that it was all _his_ – and laughed.

"What?" Remus asked in annoyance cracking an eye open.

"You've still got one sock on." Sirius chortled.

"Shut up." Remus smirked, eye closing again, "Clean us up and close the hangings on our beds before the others get back. Don't wanna give the others heart attacks just yet."

Sirius smiled and reached for his wand, casting a _scourgify_ and turning a little to point his wand at first the hangings around his bed and then Remus', closing them both. Job done, he slipped his wand back into his trouser pocket at the foot of the bed and pulled the covers over the both of them, snuggling up to Remus happily, the other boy already asleep.

The first thing Sirius did the next morning was rejoice that he remembered everything of the previous night as he lay next to his Moony, considering how much he had had to drink. Remus was breathing slowly, deeply, indicating that he was still sleeping – Sirius was overcome with a brilliant idea.

He scooted further under the covers and grinned when he came face to face with his goal, standing at half-mast due to the hour of the day. Sirius grinned at the thought of his Moony sporting morning wood and then wondered why he was always in such a foul mood when he woke if he'd just had a wank…unless he _didn't_ wank because he always insisted on sleeping in and only ever had time for a rushed shower instead of a _relaxing_ one like everyone else.

_Time to remedy that_, he thought mischievously, gently taking a hold of Moony and doing something he hadn't had a chance to last night. He lowered his mouth over Remus, slowly in case he choked himself to death, before pulling back with a slow, hard suck, hoping to Merlin he was doing it right. Most likely he was, judging by the way Moony rose to full-mast in his mouth.

After a moment, the covers lifted abruptly and Remus' face stared down at him as he _sucked_ again, earning himself a stifled groan.

"Sirius…" Moony whispered, his breath catching. Sirius hummed in approval of Remus' arousal. The sensation of sound around him must have done something peculiar because Moony threw his head back, gripping Sirius' hair, a silent shout on his lips. Sirius ignored the insistent tugs and gave one last suck. Remus shuddered into Sirius' mouth, who swallowed smugly and sat up, the covers forming a large tent over his head.

"Well, that was embarrassing," Remus sighed, covering his eyes with an arm as Sirius crawled up beside him again, "I never come that fast. Sorry about that by the way."

He made a swallowing gesture to explain and Sirius laughed, leaning over to kiss him. When he pulled back, Remus was smiling, the light of dawn filtering through the hangings and highlighting the pretty red strands in his hair.

"You'd better go to your own bed before the others wake up." Remus whispered, giving Sirius a gentle shove. Sirius pulled his boxers on and gathered up the rest of his party-worn clothes to tip toe back to his own bed, open the hangings and settle under the covers to sleep for another few hours. He was, however, too happy and hyper to do anything of the sort, so he settled for singing instead.

"So help me…" came a growl from the direction of Frank's bed, which was odd, seeing as Frank was sleeping in the middle of the dorm floor, emitting loud snores. Sirius only chuckled when the grouchy lump jumped up from Longbottom's bed suddenly to make a mad dash for the bathroom. When the distinct sounds of a stomach being emptied made themselves known, the other boys groaned, sitting up gingerly and quickly realising their various states of hangover.

Sirius watched, hands behind his head as he watched the pandemonium unfold (that usually involved him, had he not been floating on cloud nine), as Remus stood and stretched, now wearing his usual bedtime ensemble of boxers and a wife beater. The others fell silent for a moment, fully expecting for him to scream at Fabian to _get out of the fucking bathroom_, but when all he actually said was, "Looks like a nice morning already. Think I might go get myself a tan," they exchanged puzzled glances.

"Where's the demon of dawn disappeared to?" Peter muttered as Moony rooted around in his trunk for a t shirt, announcing that it was now too hot for jumpers – something that Sirius was now _very _excited about. Anything to see his Moony in clothes that showed off more skin.

Sirius just gave Peter a smug smile – one that faltered when he realised James was trying to hide one of his own. And one that came back with amused vengeance when said best friend clapped him on the shoulder and congratulated him loudly as he passed to see if Fabian was alright. Remus glanced over and gave him a matching grin that sent Sirus into deliriously happy places.

_Yeah_, Sirius thought to himself cheerfully, _my Moony. _My_ Moony_.

**A/N2:** So, it's over! *Wipes tear away* Ah well, I'm most likely going to write a sequel anyway since I loved writing this so much, even if most of you don't want a sequel (apart from those who _have_ requested one)! Muahahaha! But yeah, I don't know when I'll start it, so stay alert men! And women. And everyone else. Also, I'll have a couple of oneshot up soon, so look out for those. Cheerio!


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